Elymus nutans Griseb. is a typical plant species of an alpine meadow. It has long played an important role in grassland animal husbandry and ecological management in Qinghai-Tibetan plateau. This study takes 20 wild Elymus nutans germplasm resources collected from Qinghai and Tibet as the research object. The hay yield, crude protein (CP), ether extract (EE), crude ash (Ash), acid detergent fiber (ADF), and neutral detersive fiber (NDF) were measured at the heading, early flowering, and milk maturity stages, respectively. The results showed that the hay yields of different E. nutans were significantly different (P<0.05), and the overall trend was to increase first and then decrease. The variation ranges of CP, EE, Ash, ADF, and NDF content of 20 E. nutans were 2.50%~11.73%, 3.63%~5.98%, 2.67%~6.79%, 31.78%~47.40%, 53.71%~72.08%, respectively. Analysing the yield and nutritional quality indicators of 20 E. nutans combined with the grey correlation theory method, it is concluded that GL5 has the best comprehensive performance at the heading and milk maturity stage, and HN4 has the best comprehensive performance at the early flowering stage. The top 5 in the three periods are GL5, HN4, GL6, HB1, and XZ2. These accession resources can be used as high-quality breeding materials.

To improve animal behavioral welfare with less damage to poultry farms caused by heat stress due to climate change in summer, it is necessary to raise chicks resistant to heat stress from the hatching stage. In ovo injection could be an alternative technology to improve hatchability, immune response, animal behavioral welfare, and growth performance in broilers exposed to heat stress. Objectives of this study were: 1) to investigate the hatchability after in ovo injection with betaine and vitamin C; 2) to determine animal welfare and growth performance of broiler chickens exposed to heat tress after hatching. On the 187th day of incubation, 750 fertilized eggs from Ross 308 broiler breeder were distributed into five groups as follows: 1) normal control group without injection of nutrients and raised in thermoneutral condition (NC); 2) heat stress control group without injection of nutrients (HC); 3) heat stress with injection of betaine 6 mg (B6); 4) heat stress with injection of vitamin C 6 mg (C6); and 5) heat stress with injection of both betaine 3 mg and vitamin 3 mg (BC33). Heat stress (36℃ and 70% RH) for animals was artificially applied for 5 h a day (11:00 am to 16:00 pm) from 28 to 32 days. Hatchability and hatching weight of chicks were significantly higher in the order of NC < B6=C6 < BC33 groups (p < 0.05). The growth performance of broiler chickens exposed to heat stress was significantly increased in the order of NC < B6=C6 < BC33 groups (p < 0.05). The weight of immune organ was significantly increased in the order of HC < NC=B6 < C6 = BC33 groups (p < 0.05). Serum IgG were significantly increased in the in ovo injection groups with betaine and vitamin C or NC group compared to HC group, while H/L ratio and corticosterone decreased, and there were significant difference between treatment groups (p<0.05). Animal behavioral activity and welfare indicators were high in the in ovo injection groups with betaine and vitamin C or NC group compared to HC group, and there were significant difference between treatment groups (p<0.05). These results suggest that in ovo injection of betaine or vitamin C may help chicks become resistant to heat stress that could improve the hatchability and growth performance of broiler chickens under heat stress.

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of rumen-protected fat and/or vitamin C supplementation on growth performance, carcass characteristics, and meat composition in Hanwoo steers during late period. Twenty-eight Hanwoo steers (initial body weight 723.0 ± 59.2 kg, approximately 27 months of age) were allotted to 4 treatments as follow: CON = basal diet, T1 = basal diet + rumen-protected fat (RPF) at the level of 0.1% of diet, T2 = basal diet + rumen-protected vitamin C (RPVC) at the level of 0.1% of diet, T3 = basal diet + RPF + RPVC. Final weight and daily weight gain were higher in T1 than in CON (p < 0.05). Carcass weight and rib eye area was higher in all treatment group than in CON (p < 0.05). However, there was no effect of treatment on the plasma metabolites and meat composition.\nThe present results suggest that rumen-protected fat and/or vitamin C supplementation has positive effects on growth performance, carcass weight, rib eye area, and marbling score. However, there was no complementary effect of rumen-protected fat and vitamin C supplementation.