Research activities of this theme are mainly focused on the manipulation of carbohydrate nutrition and amino acids metabolism in pigs, poultry and ruminants , improvement of animal meat quality, development of new feedstuff resource and feed additive, regulation of dietary nitrogen and phosphorus metabolism in pigs, animal feeding environment, management of improved grassland in the hilly region, and animal welfare.
Staff members
This centre consists of two research teams for healthy and environment-friendly production of pork and healthy feeding of ruminants and sustainable grassland management in subtropical regions. Leading scientists in this centre are Professor Yulong Yin and Professor Zhiliang Tan. At present, there are totally 4 professors, 4 associate professors and 8 research assistants. Thirty M.Sc. and Ph.D. postgraduates are registered in the center.
Projects
During the last five years, the centre has completed 20 research projects with total funding of 13 M (￥); with 8 projects (￥6 M) funded from the Natural Science Fundation of China and the Ministry of Science and Technology, 5 projects funded from CAS (￥ 6 M) as the priority areas of CAS Knowledge Innovation Plan.
Achievement
Main progresses have been achieved during the last five years including the new methodology related to animal nutrition and metabolism. Five new methods including a mobile nylon bag technique, a method for the determination of endogenous N and AA, an improved hepatic portal vein catheters technique, subtraction and regression analysis methods for determination of endogenous P losses and an in vitro method for determination of N and AA digestibility, were established. These methods were used in studying the mechanisms and regulations of nutrition metabolism at the levels of organ, tissue, and cell and molecule. Five P and AA-transporter genes were cloned in pig kidney and intestine. It was found that NaPiIIc mRNA was mainly expressed in jejunal. And the gene was an important transporter of P absorption and endogenous N secretion. It was found that these factors largely decided feed protein efficiency. The nutritional characteristics of forages and crop residues have been accurately evaluated using in vitro gas production technique and nylon bag degradation technique, and their database has been set up and extensively applied in ruminant production system. AA metabolism has been fully studied using catheter technique of vein and artery, and isotope tracer, and the limitation order of dietary AA has been partly determined in growing ruminants. The effects of grazing regime on nutrients recycling, animal performance, grass biomass and bio-diversity of grass land in the hilly land of subtropical region have initially been studied.
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