Non-linear prediction model for egg production of quails the tropics with methionine supplementation

This study aimed to predict the egg production of quails receiving methionine supplementation. Two hundred and four quails were divided into two treatment diets, and six replicates with 17 quails each. The treatment diets were control (P0) and 0.12% methionine supplementation (P1). Egg production data were collected for eleven weeks, and a T-test was performed. Next, the data was plotted to get the actual egg production curve. We used a logistic regression model to predict the egg production pattern and calculated the model’s fitness with the coefficient of determination (R2). The results showed that methionine supplementation increased egg production by 9.43% (p<0.01). Based on the actual production curve, the increase in initial production to peak production of P1 was slower than P0, but P1 had a higher egg production than P0. The logistic model predicts that peak production of P1 was higher than P0 (62.74% vs. 56.79%), although the production rate of P1 was lower than P0 (0.21 vs. 0.36). In addition, the accuracy of both P0 and P1 models was 0.88 and 0.92, respectively. Thus, the logistic model can predict quail egg production in the tropics due to diet modification with high accuracy.

Application of logistic model to predict egg production pattern of quails given a low-energy diet supplemented with methionine

Tropical countries such as Indonesia face high temperatures, which impact the energy utilization in poultry. This study aims to predict the egg production pattern of quail supplemented with methionine in a low-energy diet. In total, 204 laying quails were divided into two treatments: Control (T0) and 0.12% methionine supplementation (T1). After three weeks adaptation period, daily egg production data were collected for two periods of four weeks each (treatment period week 4-11). The t-test was applied to analyze the egg production data. Egg production patterns were predicted using logistic regression. The egg production pattern of T1 showed a significant increase compared to T0 during the treatment period (p<0.01) and overall period (p<0.01). Peak production from T0 and T1 was 59.14% vs. 66.82%, with a production rate of 0.22 vs. 0.18 and prediction accuracy of 91% vs. 86%, respectively. In conclusion, methionine supplementation to a low-energy diet increased egg production of quails.

Maternal methionine supplementation during gestation alters alternative splicing and DNA methylation in bovine skeletal muscle

Background The evaluation of alternative splicing, including differential isoform expression and differential exon usage, can provide some insights on the transcriptional changes that occur in response to environmental perturbations. Maternal nutrition is considered a major intrauterine regulator of fetal developmental programming. The objective of this study was to assess potential changes in splicing events in the longissimus dorsi muscle of beef calves gestated under control or methionine-rich diets. RNA sequencing and whole-genome bisulfite sequencing were used to evaluate muscle transcriptome and methylome, respectively. Results Alternative splicing patterns were significantly altered by maternal methionine supplementation. Most of the altered genes were directly implicated in muscle development, muscle physiology, ATP activities, RNA splicing and DNA methylation, among other functions. Interestingly, there was a significant association between DNA methylation and differential exon usage. Indeed, among the set of genes that showed differential exon usage, significant differences in methylation level were detected between significant and non-significant exons, and between contiguous and non-contiguous introns to significant exons. Conclusions Overall, our findings provide evidence that a prenatal diet rich in methyl donors can significantly alter the offspring transcriptome, including changes in isoform expression and exon usage, and some of these changes are mediated by changes in DNA methylation.

PSIII-23 Maternal metabolizable protein level and rumen-protected methionine impacts on beef steer progeny gene expression in muscle and liver

This experiment evaluated how maternal metabolizable protein level and rumen-protected methionine supplementation during late gestation impacts expression of genes associated with fetal programming in beef steer offspring. In a 3 x 2 factorial arrangement, 138 Angus crossbred cows were randomly assigned one of three metabolizable protein (MP) treatments (fed to meet 90, 100, or 110% of MP requirements), with(without) 9 g/d of rumen-protected methionine (MET; Smartamine®M, Adisseo Inc.). The isocaloric diets were fed for the last 8 weeks of gestation. Steer progeny (n = 51) were assigned to one of seven pens by weight and received a common corn-based grower diet (58% corn silage, 26% alfalfa haylage, 15% soybean meal) for 47 days, followed by a finisher diet (78% high moisture corn, 12% alfalfa haylage, 8% soybean meal) for 115 ±31.5 days until slaughter. At slaughter, samples of Sternomandibularis muscle and liver were collected and snap-frozen in liquid nitrogen for RNA isolation and analysis of gene expression for growth, myogenic, and adipogenic genes. Data were analyzed using PROC GLIMMIX in SAS, with maternal MP level and MET supplementation as fixed effects, and pen as a random effect. Exceeding maternal MP requirements increased expression of myogenic regulatory factor, myogenin (MYOG; 90% MP: 0.72, 100% MP: 0.94, and 110% MP: 1.00; SEM = 0.083, respectively; P = 0.02) in muscle from steer progeny at slaughter. Methionine supplementation decreased expression of pyruvate kinase (PKM; MET: 0.81, No MET: 1.16; SEM = 0.092; P = 0.02) in muscle, which is associated with lean tissue growth. Maternal nutritional treatment did not influence hepatic gene expression (P ≥ 0.06). These data suggest that maternal nutrition may impact progeny muscle development, while maintaining metabolic function of the liver.