Nutritional programming in early life stages to improve feed efficiency, reproductive rates and quality of sheep meat and milk (NUPROVI).
One of the main challenges facing humanity is feeding the estimated 9 billion people who will inhabit the planet by 2050, a challenge that must be met with the limited resources available on Earth.
This is why European R&D&I strategies (e.g. Horizon 2020, the Spanish Strategy for Science, Technology, and Innovation 2013-2020) are promoting the search for solutions to achieve a more resource-efficient Europe.
In the livestock sector, this means that it is necessary to increase the efficiency with which animals use to feed by reducing feed conversion rates, i.e. the amount of feed needed to produce a unit of animal product, while minimizing the environmental impact of livestock farming and meeting the requirements for producing healthy, safe food that meets animal welfare and social acceptance criteria.
In this sense, it has been shown that to achieve the same daily weight gain there are differences in dry matter intake (DMI) of lambs of up to 15% between the most and least efficient animals to produce a unit of animal product.
On the other hand, in the case of replacement lambs, it would be interesting to reduce this unproductive period, the duration of which also varies greatly between individuals.
Therefore, advancing in the detection of the underlying causes of phenotypic diversity can allow the most promising advances to be successfully implemented and transferred to the sector, thus increasing the competitiveness and environmental sustainability of the Spanish sheep sector.
Part of this variability may be caused by nutritional programming, an emerging and multidisciplinary field of research, which is improving our understanding of the relationship between nutrition, DNA methylation, and gene expression, and has provided another piece of the puzzle to understand the phenotypic diversity mentioned above.
This concept links health in adulthood with early life environmental conditions when nutritional factors can affect organism development and have consequences throughout life.
Indeed, one of our previous projects (EFFILAMB) showed that early feed restriction (lactation period) programmed a greater accumulation of fat during the fattening period of lambs and a delay in the onset of the first ovulation in replacement ewe lambs.
Subsequently, our latest project (CARNOVI) showed that these sequelae were also transmitted to the progeny (F1, fattening males, replacement females) of these restricted ewes (F0) and that epigenetic marks in germ cells were involved in this transmission.
Therefore, the present project, NUPROVI, will attempt to advance knowledge by testing the potential of different feeding practices. Specifically, to evaluate whether the dietary administration of methyl group donors such as methionine during the lactation phase of ewe lambs (F0) can improve feed efficiency, product quality (meat and milk), and reproductive performance of these animals (F0), and also of the offspring (F1).
Furthermore, NUPROVI will attempt to elucidate the mechanisms triggered by these methyl group donors from a holistic point of view, linking traditional feed efficiency measures with various levels of each animal (-omics, animal health, immunity, microbial diversity of ruminal content, epidural and gastrointestinal communities, antioxidant status). Finally, with an interdisciplinary approach, NUPROVI will implement experimental protocols with cell cultures and hepatic and intestinal organoids to study in vitro the effect of these methyl group donors; the ultimate goal will be to reduce the number of experimental animals, both in the present project and in future ones.
Working hypothesis and main objectives to be achieved
The initial hypothesis of NUPROVI is that the incorporation of methyl group donors in the diet of ruminants during postnatal life will achieve positive nutritional programming effects, allowing the optimization of breeding protocols in terms of feed costs, reproductive efficiency, and meat or milk quality, even achieving an inter-generational effect.
This hypothesis is supported by our previous studies in which we have shown that feed restriction at an early age during the neonatal period is a crucial factor affecting all these productive traits in growing lambs and replacement lambs (F0), and is also transmitted to the next generation (F1) through the germ line.
Main objective: To study the postnatal nutritional programming events caused by supplementation with methyl donors during the lactation period of replacement lambs (F0) both in F0 and in the offspring (F1; fattening male lambs and replacement lambs).
The specific objectives of this activity will be to determine the response of lambs (F0) supplemented with methionine during the lactation period on:
a) Epigenetic marks in both mothers (F0) and offspring (replacement lambs, F1).
b) Feed efficiency and reproductive performance in both F0 and F1.
c) Milk production and composition in F0 and F1.
d) Meat quality characteristics of fattening male lambs (F1).
e) The intestinal microbiome in both F0 and F1.
f) Intestinal integrity, immune response, and inflammation in both F0 and F1.
1st October 2022-Present University of León, León, Spain Veterinary and food sciences PhD
23rd September 2015 – 1st February 2022 Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
Graduate in Veterinary Medicine Thesis: Study of the impact of various percentages of Bunium Persicum essential oil on the shelf life of fresh sausages and the survival of inoculated Bacillus coagulans.
Experience:
CSIC-IGM Institute Researcher PhD Student León, Spain Nutritional programming in early stages of life to improve food efficiency, reproductive
indices, and the quality of sheep meat and milk (NUPROVI)-PID2021-126489OB-I00
Publications: ResearchGate
