The livestock industry in the 21st century is facing several challenges. With the global population on the rise, the demand for meat, eggs, milk, and other livestock products is growing as well. Meanwhile, resources such as land and water availability it is limited. In addition, adapting to climate changes, reducing carbon footprint, and adopting sustainable agriculture have become crucial more than ever. Moreover, the livestock industry faces unprecedented challenges from disease. This in turn reduces production efficiency, animal wellbeing, carcass quality and increases the cost of production and the use of antibiotics. Producing more with less has increased the interest in selection for animals that are more efficient, less susceptible to pathogens and that are more disease resilient.
Metabolomics is widely used in biomedical research, food, and nutritional analysis. Within the last decade, the application of metabolomics for livestock research is increasing rapidly. It offers a window to increase our understanding of the biological processes involved in feed efficiency, growth, reproduction, disease, and animal wellbeing. Using different biological samples, like plasma, serum, saliva, urine and hair, offers the possibility to identify biomarkers of disease, stress, new phenotypes, and traits that can be used for the selection of efficient and resilient animals. Therefore, the goal of this Research Topic is to collect scientific articles that highlight the use and importance of metabolomics to advance scientific understanding of complex biological systems such as immune system, nutrition, reproduction, disease resilience, and efficiency.
This collection welcomes original research, and review on the application of targeted and untargeted metabolomics in Animal Science: Areas of interest could include, but are not limited to:
• Animal disease, resilience, and immune response
• Biomarker discovery (biomarkers of disease and economically important traits)
• Physiology, nutrition, and reproduction
• Animal welfare
• Animal breeding (genetic and genomics)
• Epigenetics and metabolites
• Meat and milk quality
The livestock industry in the 21st century is facing several challenges. With the global population on the rise, the demand for meat, eggs, milk, and other livestock products is growing as well. Meanwhile, resources such as land and water availability it is limited. In addition, adapting to climate changes, reducing carbon footprint, and adopting sustainable agriculture have become crucial more than ever. Moreover, the livestock industry faces unprecedented challenges from disease. This in turn reduces production efficiency, animal wellbeing, carcass quality and increases the cost of production and the use of antibiotics. Producing more with less has increased the interest in selection for animals that are more efficient, less susceptible to pathogens and that are more disease resilient.
Metabolomics is widely used in biomedical research, food, and nutritional analysis. Within the last decade, the application of metabolomics for livestock research is increasing rapidly. It offers a window to increase our understanding of the biological processes involved in feed efficiency, growth, reproduction, disease, and animal wellbeing. Using different biological samples, like plasma, serum, saliva, urine and hair, offers the possibility to identify biomarkers of disease, stress, new phenotypes, and traits that can be used for the selection of efficient and resilient animals. Therefore, the goal of this Research Topic is to collect scientific articles that highlight the use and importance of metabolomics to advance scientific understanding of complex biological systems such as immune system, nutrition, reproduction, disease resilience, and efficiency.
This collection welcomes original research, and review on the application of targeted and untargeted metabolomics in Animal Science: Areas of interest could include, but are not limited to:
• Animal disease, resilience, and immune response
• Biomarker discovery (biomarkers of disease and economically important traits)
• Physiology, nutrition, and reproduction
• Animal welfare
• Animal breeding (genetic and genomics)
• Epigenetics and metabolites
• Meat and milk quality
