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Cholecalciferol supplementation in heifer diets increases beef vitamin D concentration and improves beef tenderness

2017-12, Duffy, Sarah K., O'Doherty, John V., Rajauria, Gaurav, Clarke, Louise C., Kelly, Alan K., et al.

This study investigated the effects of cholecalciferol (vitamin D₃) supplementation on beef vitamin D activity, beef tenderness and sensory attributes. Thirty heifers were randomly allocated to one of three finishing dietary treatments [(T1) basal diet + 0 IU vitamin D₃; (T2) basal diet + 2000 IU vitamin D₃; and (T3) basal diet + 4000 IU vitamin D₃] for a 30 day period pre-slaughter. Vitamin D₃ supplementation linearly increased serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D₃ (25-OH-D3) concentrations (R2 = 0.48), Longissimus thoracis (LT) total vitamin D activity (R2 = 0.78) as well as individually vitamin D₃ (R2 = 0.84) and 25-OH-D₃ (R2 = 0.75). The highest vitamin D₃ inclusion diet (T3) had a 42% increase (P < 0.001) in LT vitamin D activity compared to the intermediate diet (T2) and a 145% increase over the lowest level diet (T1). Vitamin D₃ supplementation decreased LT shear (P < 0.05) force values after 14 days chilling. Sensory parameters were not affected (P > 0.05). In conclusion, through short-term vitamin D₃ supplementation of cattle diets, beef vitamin D activity can successfully be enhanced

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Seasonal Variation of the Proximate Composition, Mineral Content, Fatty Acid Profiles and Other Phytochemical Constituents of Selected Brown Macroalgae

2021-04-04, García-Vaquero, Marco, Rajauria, Gaurav, Miranda, Marta, Sweeney, Torres, López-Alonso, Marta, O'Doherty, John V.

The main objective was to determine the chemical, phytochemical, fatty acid and mineral profiles of three commercially relevant brown macroalgae (Laminaria digitata, Laminaria hyperborea and Ascophyllum nodosum) collected each season for two years off the west coast of Ireland. All the chemical, phytochemical, fatty acid and minerals analysed varied significantly depending on the macroalgal species, season and year of collection. Overall, the protein contents of macroalgae were negatively correlated with carbohydrate content. Protein (2–11%) was at its highest during winter and/or spring, decreasing to a minimum during summer and/or autumn. The three macroalgal species analysed in this study had clearly differentiated fatty acid profiles. The concentration of fatty acids was higher in A. nodosum compared with both Laminaria species. The mineral profile of the three macroalgal species was rich in essential metals, particularly Ca, Mg and P, while the levels of I were approximately 9- to 10-fold higher in both Laminaria spp. compared with A. nodosum. The levels of toxic metals (Cd, Hg and Pb) in all the macroalgal species studied were low in the current study; while the levels of total As were high (49–64 mg/kg DW macroalgae) compared with previous reports.

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Effect of β-glucanase and β-xylanase enzyme supplemented barley diets on nutrient digestibility, growth performance and expression of intestinal nutrient transporter genes in finisher pigs

2018-04, Clarke, L.C., Sweeney, Torres, Curley, E., Gath, Vivian, Duffy, Sarah K., Vigors, Stafford, Rajauria, Gaurav, O'Doherty, John V.

The study investigated the effect of dietary supplementation of an enzyme mix (β-glucanase and β-xylanase) to barley based diets that had different chemical compositions achieved through different agronomical conditions on growth performance, nutrient digestibility and intestinal nutrient transporters. Ninety-six pigs (44.7 kg (SD 4.88)) were assigned to one of four dietary treatments. The treatments were as follows: (T1) low quality barley diet, (T2) low quality barley diet supplemented with β-glucanase and β-xylanase enzyme supplement, (T3) high quality barley diet and (T4) high quality barley diet supplemented with β-glucanase and β-xylanase enzyme supplement. The inclusion of barley was 500 g/kg. There was an interaction between barley type and enzyme supplementation on average daily gain (ADG) and average daily feed intake (ADFI) (P < 0.05). Pigs offered the low quality barley diet supplemented with enzymes had an increase in both ADG and ADFI compared to the low quality barley diet only. However, there was no response to enzyme inclusion in the high quality barley diet. Pigs offered the low quality barley diet with enzymes had a higher coefficient of apparent total tract digestibility (CATTD) of gross energy (GE) compared to the low quality barley diet only (P < 0.05). However, the increase in the high quality barley diet with enzyme supplementation was not as great as with the low quality barley diet. Pigs offered the low quality barley had an upregulation in the expression of the ghrelin gene (GHRL) in the jejunum compared to pigs offered the high quality barley diet (P < 0.05). There was a barley × enzyme interaction observed for the expression of the cluster of differentiation gene (CD36) in the duodenum and the peptide transporter 1 gene (PEPT1/SLC15A1) and sodium-glucose linked transporter 1 gene (SGLT1/SLC5A1) in the ileum (P < 0.01). Pigs offered the high quality barley diet with enzymes had increased expression of CD36, PEPT1/SLC15A1 and SGLT1/SLC5A1 compared to the high quality barley diet alone. However the low quality barley diet with enzymes down regulated the expression of CD36, PEPT1/SLC15A1 and SGLT1/SLC5A1 compared to the low quality barley diet alone. In conclusion, offering a low quality barley diet supplemented with an enzyme mix improved ADG, ADFI and nutrient digestibility as well as modifying the expression of CD36, PEPT1/SLC15A1 and SGLT1/SLC5A1. The inclusion of an enzyme mix to the high quality barley diet improved nutrient digestibility and caused an upregulation in the expression of CD36, PEPT1/SLC15A1 and SGLT1/SLC5A1 but it did not improve animal performance.

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Exploring ultrasound-assisted extraction to recover high valuable polysaccharides from brown macroalgae and its related antioxidant activities

2018-10-27, García-Vaquero, Marco, Rajauria, Gaurav, Tiwari, Brijesh K., Sweeney, Torres, O'Doherty, John V.

This study aimed to optimize the ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) parameters of temperature, time and amplitude on the yields of fucose and glucans and their antioxidant activities (FRAP and DPPH) of extracts from Laminaria digitata and to evaluate the application of these optimum UAE parameters in other brown macroalgae (L. hyperborea and Ascophyllum nodosum).

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The potential of cholecalciferol and 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 enriched diets in laying hens, to improve egg vitamin D content and antioxidant availability

2017-12, Duffy, Sarah K., Rajauria, Gaurav, Clarke, Louise C., Kelly, Alan K., O'Doherty, John V., et al.

Sixty Hy-line brown hens were randomly assigned to four barns (n = 4) to investigate the effects of cholecalciferol (vitamin D₃) versus 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 (25-OH-D₃) enriched diets on egg vitamin D concentration, antioxidant activity and egg quality parameters. Experimental design was a 4 × 4 Latin square consisting of 4 experimental treatments and 4 experimental periods. The treatments were (1) 1500 IU of vitamin D₃ (2) 3000 IU of vitamin D₃ (3) 1500 IU of vitamin D₃ and 37.5 μg of 25-OH-D₃ (4) 75 μg of 25-OH-D₃ per kg of feed. Hens offered 75 μg of 25-OH-D₃ had a higher (P < 0.05) total vitamin D egg yolk content (5.06 μg/egg), and antioxidant activity compared to other dietary treatments. The results demonstrates that the enrichment of hen diets with 25-OH-D₃ may be a useful approach and may contribute between 25 and 33% towards total vitamin D daily requirements while also improving antioxidant status of eggs. Industrial relevance: Vitamin D deficiency is now regarded as a major issue in northern Europe and has been described as a pandemic. A growing interest in vitamin D food fortification in northern Europe to satisfy the current dietary intake recommendations has been observed. The use of a bio-addition approach for increasing vitamin D intake through biofortification of livestock feeds attracts attention. Enrichment of the hen's diet with vitamin D may also supply additional benefits of increasing antioxidant activity. This increase in antioxidant activity may have the ability to increase food quality and extend the shelf life. This study explores the effect of vitamin D enriched diets fed to laying hens on vitamin D egg yolk content and antioxidant activity in the egg. These enriched diets could demonstrate that enrichment of hen diets with 25-hyroxvitamin D₃ may be a useful approach for tackling low vitamin D intakes and improving antioxidant capacity of eggs.

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Effects of extraction method on the prebiotic potential of Ascophylum nodosum extracts

2018-06-28, Venardou, Brigkita, McDonnell, Mary, García-Vaquero, Marco, Rajauria, Gaurav, O'Doherty, John V., Sweeney, Torres

Seaweed-derived bioactive compounds exhibit various beneficial activities in humans and animals. A factor influencing their concentrations, and subsequent bioactivity, is the extraction method. Our aim was to evaluate the in vitro prebiotic potential of three differently-extracted Ascophylum nodosum samples. The samples were produced using either solid-liquid extraction with water (AN-W), or ethanol (AN-EtOH) as solvent or high pressure-assisted extraction with water as solvent (AN-HPW). All extracts were two-fold diluted from 2 mg/ml to 0.25 mg/ml. Lactobacillus plantarum (LP), L. reuteri (LR) and Bifidobacterium thermophilum (BT) were used at 106 -107 colony-forming unit(CFU)/ml. Each concentration of each extract and controls (0 mg/ml) were incubated for 18 h at 37 °C aerobically or anaerobically (BT). Final bacterial concentrations were determined by spread plating. All experiments were carried out in triplicate with technical replicates. All data were logarithmically transformed and analysed using PROC GLM (SAS 9.4). AN-HPW increased BT (≤0.9 LogCFU/ml, P<0.05) at all concentrations and LR and LP (0.2 LogCFU/ml, P<0.05) at 2 mg/ml and 1mg/ml, respectively. AN-W increased BT (≤0.6 LogCFU/ml, P<0.05) at 1-2mg/ml, but decreased both lactobacilli; LP ≤0.7 LogCFU/ml and LR ≤5.4 LogCFU/ml at all concentrations (P<0.05). AN-EtOH increased LP (≤0.7 LogCFU/ml, P<0.05), but reduced LR (≤5.7 LogCFU/ml, P<0.05) at all concentrations and BT (≤4 LogCFU/ml, P<0.05) at 1-2 mg/ml. In conclusion, the extraction method influenced the prebiotic potential of the A. nodosum extracts in vitro with AN-HPW being the most promising.

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Evaluation of Ultrasound, Microwave, Ultrasound–Microwave, Hydrothermal and High Pressure Assisted Extraction Technologies for the Recovery of Phytochemicals and Antioxidants from Brown Macroalgae

2021-05-27, García-Vaquero, Marco, Ravindran, Rajeev, Walsh, Orla, O'Doherty, John V., Jaiswal, Amit K., Tiwari, Brijesh K., Rajauria, Gaurav

This study aims to explore novel extraction technologies (ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE), microwave-assisted extraction (MAE), ultrasound–microwave-assisted extraction (UMAE), hydrothermal-assisted extraction (HAE) and high-pressure-assisted extraction (HPAE)) and extraction time post-treatment (0 and 24 h) for the recovery of phytochemicals and associated antioxidant properties from Fucus vesiculosus and Pelvetia canaliculata. When using fixed extraction conditions (solvent: 50% ethanol; extraction time: 10 min; algae/solvent ratio: 1/10) for all the novel technologies, UAE generated extracts with the highest phytochemical contents from both macroalgae. The highest yields of compounds extracted from F. vesiculosus using UAE were: total phenolic content (445.0 ± 4.6 mg gallic acid equivalents/g), total phlorotannin content (362.9 ± 3.7 mg phloroglucinol equivalents/g), total flavonoid content (286.3 ± 7.8 mg quercetin equivalents/g) and total tannin content (189.1 ± 4.4 mg catechin equivalents/g). In the case of the antioxidant activities, the highest DPPH activities were achieved by UAE and UMAE from both macroalgae, while no clear pattern was recorded in the case of FRAP activities. The highest DPPH scavenging activities (112.5 ± 0.7 mg trolox equivalents/g) and FRAP activities (284.8 ± 2.2 mg trolox equivalents/g) were achieved from F. vesiculosus. Following the extraction treatment, an additional storage post-extraction (24 h) did not improve the yields of phytochemicals or antioxidant properties of the extracts.

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Enhancing the extraction of polysaccharides and antioxidants from macroalgae using sequential hydrothermal-assisted extraction followed by ultrasound and thermal technologies

2019-08-05, García-Vaquero, Marco, O'Doherty, John V., Tiwari, Brijesh K., Sweeney, Torres, Rajauria, Gaurav

Fucose sulphated polysaccharides (FSPs) and glucans have recently attracted the attention of the scientific community due to their wide range of biological activities. Both polysaccharides should ideally be selectively extracted using innovative technologies with high extraction efficiency. This study aims to: (1) Optimise the extraction variables used in hydrothermal-assisted extraction (HAE) to obtain high yields of FSPs, total glucans, and antioxidants from Laminaria hyperborea; (2) to apply these optimised protocols to other brown macroalgae; and (3) to explore the application of ultrasound and thermal technologies to increase the recovery of polysaccharides from the residual biomass. Box-Behnken design (three-factor, four-levels) was employed to optimise the HAE variables, and principal component analysis was used to evaluate the recovery of polysaccharides from the residual biomass. The optimal HAE conditions were 120 ◦C, 80.9 min, and 12.02 mL/g macroalgae from L. hyperborea. The best sequential application of ultrasound and thermal treatment achieved an additional 2971.7 ± 61.9 mg fucose/100 g dried macroalgal residue (dmr) from Ascophyllum nodosum and 908.0 ± 51.4 mg total glucans/100 g dmr from L. hyperborea macroalgal residues.

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The influence of duration of feeding dietary vitamin D enriched mushroom powder to finisher pigs on growth performance and meat quality parameters

2022-06, Conway, Eadaoin, Sweeney, Torres, Dowley, Alison, Rajauria, Gaurav, Vigors, Stafford, Yadav, Supriya, Wilson, Jude, Gabrielli, William, O'Doherty, John V.

Novel feed additives that replace the use of synthetic additives while enhancing pig performance and pork quality are continuously being explored. A complete randomised block design experiment was conducted to examine the effects of the duration of feeding of vitamin D2 enriched mushrooms to finisher pigs and its effect on pig performance and pork quality. Sixty pigs were assigned to one of three dietary treatments for a 69-day feeding period. The dietary treatments were as follows: (T1) basal diet; (T2) basal diet + 1 g/kg of feed vitamin D2 enriched mushroom powder for 48 days prior to slaughter (MPVD-48); and (T3) basal diet + 1 g/kg of feed vitamin D2 enriched mushroom powder for 26 days prior to slaughter (MPVD-26). The mushroom vitamin D content was naturally enriched using synthetic ultraviolet B exposure to obtain a vitamin D2 level of 50 µg/kg of feed. Dietary supplementation of vitamin D2 enriched mushroom powder, irrespective of feeding duration, caused a reduction (P < 0.05) in feed intake, whilst improving (P < 0.05) gain-to-feed ratio. Supplementation of vitamin D2 enriched mushroom powder for 26 days prior to slaughter caused pork lightness (L*) values to remain stable over the 21-day storage time-period compared with all other dietary groups. Supplementation for 26 days also caused a reduction in lipid peroxidation on day 4 of storage compared with supplementation for 48 days. Irrespective of feeding duration, vitamin D2 enriched mushroom powder supplementation improved FRAP (ferric reducing antioxidant power) values of pork compared with the basal. In conclusion, vitamin D2 enriched mushroom supplementation, irrespective of feeding duration, caused a reduction in feed intake but improved feed efficiency. The supplementation of vitamin D2 enriched mushrooms for the shorter duration of 26 days prior to slaughter improved pork quality in relation to colour and antioxidant status.

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Potential of a fucoidan-rich Ascophyllum nodosum extract to reduce Salmonella shedding and improve gastrointestinal health in weaned pigs naturally infected with Salmonella

2022-04-04, Venardou, Brigkita, O'Doherty, John V., Maher, Shane, Ryan, Marion T., Gath, Vivian, Ravindran, Rajeev, Kiely, Claire, Rajauria, Gaurav, García-Vaquero, Marco, Sweeney, Torres

Background. Dietary supplementation with a fucoidan-rich Ascophyllum nodosum extract (ANE), possessing an in vitro anti-Salmonella Typhimurium activity could be a promising on-farm strategy to control Salmonella infection in pigs. The objectives of this study were to: 1) evaluate the anti-S. Typhimurium activity of ANE (containing 46.6% fucoidan, 18.6% laminarin, 10.7% mannitol, 4.6% alginate) in vitro, and; 2) compare the effects of dietary supplementation with ANE and Zinc oxide (ZnO) on growth performance, Salmonella shedding and selected gut parameters in naturally infected pigs. This was established post-weaning (newly weaned pig experiment) and following regrouping of post-weaned pigs and experimental re-infection with S. Typhimurium (challenge experiment). Results. In the in vitro assay, increasing ANE concentrations led to a linear reduction in S. Typhimurium counts (P <  0.05). In the newly weaned pig experiment (12 replicates/treatment), high ANE supplementation increased gain to feed ratio, similar to ZnO supplementation, and reduced faecal Salmonella counts on d 21 compared to the low ANE and control groups (P <  0.05). The challenge experiment included thirty-six pigs from the previous experiment that remained on their original dietary treatments (control and high ANE groups with the latter being renamed to ANE group) apart from the ZnO group which transitioned onto a control diet on d 21 (ZnO-residual group). These dietary treatments had no effect on performance, faecal scores, Salmonella shedding or colonic and caecal Salmonella counts (P > 0.05). ANE supplementation decreased the Enterobacteriaceae counts compared to the control. Enterobacteriaceae counts were also reduced in the ZnO-residual group compared to the control (P <  0.05). ANE supplementation decreased the expression of interleukin 22 and transforming growth factor beta 1 in the ileum compared to the control (P <  0.05).