Massimo Bionaz

Oregon State University | OSU · Department of Animal and Rangeland Sciences

The legalization of industrial hemp by the 2018 Farm Bill in the US has driven a sharp increase in its cultivation, including for cannabinoid extraction. Spent hemp biomass (SHB), produced from the extraction of cannabinoids, can potentially be used as feed for dairy cows; however, it is still illegal to do so in the US, according to FDA-CVM, due t...

Flaxseed is a rich source of α-linolenic acid (ALA, 18:3 n-3) and can be used to enrich chicken tissues with n-3 fatty acids (FA). However, antinutritional factors in flaxseed compromise the live performance of birds coupled with increased oxidative stress. Chromium (Cr) is a trace element with antioxidant properties. It is hypothesized that Cr sup...

Simple Summary Although the transcriptome of dairy cow mammary tissue has been reported, the transcriptome of yak mammary tissue remains unknown. The objective of this study was to assess the transcriptome of the mammary tissue of four yaks during the whole lactation cycle. The statistical analysis identified >6000 differentially expressed genes (D...

Spent hemp biomass (SHB), a byproduct of cannabinoids extraction from the production of industrial hemp has not been approved by FDA-CVM since its effects on animal health, performance, and product quality are unknown. Our objective was to investigate the effects of feeding two levels of SHB and a four-week withdrawal period on performance, carcass...

Coprophagy is an instinctive behavior in rabbit with important effects on growth and reproductive performance. The underlying mechanism of this effect in rabbit is unknown. Here, we used Elizabeth circle as a coprophagy preventing model in female rabbits and assess feed intake, growth, and reproductive performance. We found that preventing copropha...

Metabolic challenges experienced by dairy cows during the transition between pregnancy and lactation (also known as peripartum), are of considerable interest from a nutrigenomic perspective. The mobilization of large amounts of non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA) leads to an increase in NEFA uptake in the liver, the excess of which can cause hepatic...

We evaluated the effects of a treatment diet contaminated with 1.7 mg deoxynivalenol and 3.5 mg fumonisins (B1, B2 and B3) per kg ration on immune status and peripheral blood gene expression profiles in finishing-stage Angus steers. The mycotoxin treatment diet was fed for a period of 21 days followed by a two-week washout period during which time...

Our objective was to test the effect on milk yield and quality of feeding a combination of chicory-plantain and Se-yeast in lactating ewes subjected to intramammary infection (IMI). For this purpose, we enrolled 28 Polypay ewes from a prior study where they received chicory (CS) or grass (GC) silage and supplemented with 3.6 mg of Se/day as Se-yeas...

The 2018 Farm Bill removed hemp (Cannabis sativa) from the Controlled Substances Act, classifying it as an agricultural product. The process of cannabidiol extraction from hemp yields large quantities of spent hemp biomass (SHB) that may potentially be included in animal diets. However, the use of SHB in animal diets has not been approved by FDA ye...

Immune status is critical for peripartum animals. Immune cells are highly affected by the oxidative status and level of Se. The use of forages with high content of antioxidants in combination with Se-yeast can improve the immune status in peripartum ruminants. The objective of this study was to test the possibility of improving the immune system of...

The objective of this study was to test the possibility of improving the performance of peripartum ewes by feeding a combination of chicory silage and Se-yeast. Approximately four weeks prior to lambing, 36 pregnant Polypay ewes were moved into single pens and randomly assigned to one of four groups to be fed either grass or chicory silage and supp...

The objective was to test the effect on the immune status by feeding a combination of chicory-plantain and Se-yeast in lactating ewes subjected to intramammary infection (IMI) with 2×107CFU of Strep uberis in both glands. For the purpose we enrolled 28 Polypay lactating sheep from a prior study where they were randomly allocated to receive chicory...

Some pasture species are rich in phytochemicals, able to improve milk yield and quality and to reduce the environmental impacts of livestock farming. The phytochemicals interact with the different gene networks within the animal, such as nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (NRF2), but their overall impact on animal health remains to be full...

With growing concern about including unconventional dietary protein sources in poultry diets to substitute the protein sources that are essential for human consumption such as soybean meal, Azolla leaf meal (ALM) has grown in popularity. In our prior experiment, ALM was used at inclusion rates of 5 and 10%. Five per cent inclusion of ALM increased...

Rapidly growing human populations and the increased need for high nutritive value meat in terms of low fat, high protein, and low sodium content are the driving reasons for the increase in rabbit meat production. However, dietary protein alternatives to sustain rabbit meat production, without competing with humans for strategic crops are needed. Th...

The inclusion of fat in livestock diets represents a valuable and cost-effective way to increase the animal’s caloric intake. Beyond their caloric value, fatty acids can be understood in terms of their bioactivity, via the modulation of the ligand-dependent nuclear peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPAR). Isotypes of PPAR regulate import...

Grasslands and croplands located in temperate agro-ecologies are ranked to be the best places to install solar panels for maximum energy production. Therefore, agrivoltaic systems (agricultural production under solar panels) are designed to mutually benefit solar energy and agricultural production in the same location for dual-use of land. However,...

Nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (NRF2) plays a key role in the response to oxidative stress. Diets containing known NRF2 modulators could be used to minimize oxidative stress in dairy cows. Currently, studies evaluating the activity of NRF2 in bovine have used the classical in vitro approach using synthetic media, which is very differen...

Milk consumption has long been associated with better bone development in children, contrary to sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB); however, stronger evidence are needed. Therefore, this study aimed to use a pig model for growing children to evaluate the effect of milk vs. SBB consumption on the developing skeleton. For this, we used 24 pre-pubertal p...

Abstract Background The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of energy overfeeding during the dry period on adipose tissue transcriptome profiles during the periparturient period in dairy cows. Methods Fourteen primiparous Holstein cows from a larger cohort receiving a higher-energy diet (1.62 Mcal of net energy for lactation/kg of dry ma...

Background: the peripartum is the most critical period in dairy cows with high incidence of diseases due to immune dysfunctions, often paired with systemic inflammation and oxidative stress. Selenium is a trace mineral that plays an important role in anti-oxidative function and immune response. We hypothesize that supplementing dairy cows with a re...

The study included two experiments. In the first, 24 lactating Saanen dairy goats received low-energy diet without vitamin supplements. Twelve goats received a daily IV injection of 2,4- thiazolidinedione (TZD), others received saline injection. A week later, 6 goats from each treatment were challenged with intramammary infusion (IMI) of saline (CT...

The objective of this study was to compare the transcription of gene markers for gastrointestinal (GI) epithelial cells, including fatty acid binding protein 2 (FABP2) and cytokeratin 8 (KRT8), and tight junction complex genes (TJP1, CLDN1, CLDN4) in fecal RNA against several GI tract tissue sections in dairy calves. Eight healthy Jersey calves wer...

High producing dairy cows generally receive in the diet up to 5–6% of fat. This is a relatively low amount of fat in the diet compared to diets in monogastrics; however, dietary fat is important for dairy cows as demonstrated by the benefits of supplementing cows with various fatty acids (FA). Several FA are highly bioactive, especially by affectin...

The transition from pregnancy to lactation is the most challenging period for high-producing dairy cows. The liver plays a key role in biological adaptation during the peripartum. Prior works have demonstrated that hepatic glucose synthesis, cholesterol metabolism, lipogenesis, and inflammatory response are increased or activated during the peripart...

A large body of work has been conducted to elucidate the link between the loss of viability, sensitivity to pro-inflammatory mediators and the impairment of antimicrobial functions affecting the innate immune cells, the occurrence of uncontrolled inflammations, and the sudden alteration of the metabolism during the transition from pregnancy to lact...

Background: In dairy cows circulating non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA) increase early post-partum while liver and other tissues undergo adaptation to greater lipid metabolism, mainly regulated by peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPAR). PPAR are activated by fatty acids (FA), but it remains to be demonstrated that circulating NEFA or d...

Animal welfare is an essential component of dairy production and several systems exist to evaluate the welfare of dairy cows. Here, we review and compare three well-known systems that operate at farm level from around the world (FARM, Welfare Quality ® , and The Code of Welfare) and discuss their advantages and limitations. Despite having some comm...

Increasing pasture diversity and spatially separated sowing arrangements can potentially increase the dry matter intake of high-quality forages leading to improved animal production. This study investigated the effects of simple (two-species) and diverse (six-species) pastures planted either in mixed or spatially separated adjacent pasture strips o...

Achieving high animal productivity without degrading the environment is the primary target in pasture based-dairy farming. This study investigated the effects of changing the forage base in spring from grass-clover pastures to forb or legume-based pastures on milk yield, N utilization and methane emissions of Jersey cows in Western Oregon. Twenty-s...

The objective of the present study was to evaluate the overall adaptations of liver and mammary tissue to a corn stover (CS) compared to a mixed forage (MF) diet in mid-lactation primiparous dairy cows. Twenty-four primiparous lactating Holstein cows were randomly allocated to 2 groups receiving either an alfalfa forage diet (MF, F:C = 60:40) with...

The transition from pregnancy to lactation imposes a large degree of metabolic stress on dairy cows, when the overall negative energy balance causes lipolysis and release of fat in the form of nonesterified fatty acids (NEFA). In prior studies, we proved that circulating NEFA activate the peroxisome-proliferator activated receptors (PPAR) in a hybr...

Tissue biopsies and postmortem analysis are limitations to evaluate molecular markers at tissue-level in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Inflammatory condition and barrier function of the GI through a non-invasive approach such as fecal RNA gene expression analysis has been reported in dairy calves. To further explore this approach, we performed a...

The interest in biodiesel production from oil-bearing seeds rather than soybean necessitates the scientific validation of other good quality protein sources that could substitute soybean meal in animal diets, particularly, broiler chickens where soybean meal constitutes a large portion of their diet. Therefore, the present study was conducted to in...

Objectives The objectives were to analyze the effect of the natural isothiocyanate sulforaphane, an agonist of NRF2, and the natural quassinoid brusatol, an NRF2 antagonist, on modulation of NRF2 in bovine mammary cells. The effects of each compound were analyzed in both serum from dairy cows before and after parturition as well as DMEM in order to...

Objectives Metabolic stressors and energy deficiency related to parturition induce lipolysis in dairy cows with a subsequent increase in circulating non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA). We hypothesized that circulating NEFA directly activate the Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptors (PPAR), a transcription factor with known nutrigenomics respon...

Simple Summary: This study highlights the positive effect of an Aloe arborescens Mill. whole plant homogenate on the liver and renal function of dairy cows during the peripartum period. Such positive effects could depend on both anti-hyperlipidemic and anti-inflammatory effects of Aloe that could have mitigated hepatic stresses that typically occur...

The hypothesis of the study was that feeding a relatively low amount of Se biofortified alfalfa hay during the dry period and early lactation would improve selenium status and glutathione peroxidase activity in dairy cows and their calves. Ten Jersey and 8 Holstein primiparous dairy cows were supplemented with Se biofortified (TRT; n = 9) or non-bi...

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0226070.].

Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) is known for its multiple benefits including improvement of growth, increasing lean mass, and anti-carcinogenic effects. However, when used in long-term supplementations CLA does not improve semen parameters in boar and bull and reduces fertility in Japanese quails. The content of unsaturated fatty acids in dietary li...

Microarray technology is a powerful tool for the simultaneous analysis of the expression of thousands of genes in tissues, organs, or cells. MicroRNA-mediated gene regulation is important for the development of mammary gland and lactating process. DNA sequence information encoding RNA for specific genes is physically printed onto microarray “chips,...

The objective of this study was to determine the effect of long-term supplementation of unsaturated oil on lipid metabolism and transcription of genes involved in lipid metabolism in subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) of mid-lactating dairy cows. The objective was achieved by supplementing dairy cows with soybean oil (SO; high in linoleic acid) or f...

Background Computational biologists investigate gene expression time-series data using estimation, clustering, alignment, and enrichment methods to make biological sense of the data and provide compelling visualization. While there is an abundance of microarray and RNA-seq data available, interpreting the data while capturing the dynamism of a time...

A greater demand for food animal production without antibiotics has created the common practice of feeding food animals dietary immunomodulatory feed additives (IFA) throughout their life cycle. However, little is known about the impact of IFA on cytokine and chemokine signaling in non-stressed, non-pathogen-challenged food animals during the early...

Conjugated linoleic acid was detected in rabbit caecotrophs, due to the presence of microbial lipid activity in rabbit cecum. However, the effect of CLA as a functional food in growing rabbit is not well established. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine the effect of CLA on production, meat quality, and its nutrigenomic effect on edible...

MicroRNAs are conserved, endogenous small RNAs with critical post-transcriptional regulatory functions throughout eukaryota, including prominent roles in development and disease. Despite much effort, microRNA annotations still contain errors and are incomplete due especially to challenges related to identifying valid miRs that have small numbers of...

The objective of this study was to characterize the long-term transcriptomic effects of lipogenic genes in subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) of dairy cows supplemented with unsaturated (olive oil; OO) and saturated (hydrogenated vegetable oil; HVO) lipids. Cows were fed a control diet with no added lipid, or diets containing OO or HVO (n = 5 cows/g...

The increased resistance to disease observed after monensin treatment could reflect a reduction of inflammation and oxidative stress. We hypothesised that if monensin supplementation was given before calving, it would help in controlling inflammation, reduce the susceptibility to disease and increase the performance. Fourteen pregnant heifers (PR)...

Subclinical ketosis (SCK) may impair white blood cell (WBC) function and thus contribute to the risk of disease postpartum. This preliminary study investigated changes occurring in the immune system before disease onset to elucidate their role in the occurrence of SCK. A group of 13 Holstein dairy cows were housed in tiestalls and retrospectively d...

A prior study in bovine mammary (MACT) cells indicated that long-chain fatty acids (LCFA) C16:0 and C18:0, but not unsaturated LCFA, control transcription of milk fat-related genes partly via the activation of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ). However, in that study, the activation of PPARγ by LCFA was not demonstrated but o...

In a prior experiment, treatment of goats with the putative PPARγ agonist 2,4-thiazolidinedione (2,4-TZD) ameliorated the response to intramammary infection without evidence of PPARγ activation. The lack of PPARγ activation was possibly due to deficiency of vitamin A and/or a poor body condition of the animals. Therefore, the present study hypothes...

Exploring the relationship between nutrition, skeletal development, and aging is important in maintaining bone health. Even further, understanding the complexity of skeletal homeostasis may assist in reducing the prevalence of skeletal disease, especially osteoporosis. The skeleton is unique in that it can adapt to various physical pressures, maint...

Background: In a prior experiment, treatment of goats with the putative PPARγ agonist 2,4-thiazolidinedione (2,4-TZD) did not affect milk fat or expression of milk-fat related genes. The lack of response was possibly due to deficiency of vitamin A and/or a poor body condition of the animals. In the present experiment, we tested the hypothesis that...

Summary of the paper 2,4-Thiazolidinedione Treatment Improves the Innate Immune Response in Dairy Goats with Induced Subclinical Mastitis

Flaxseed is rich in α-linolenic acid and is used in broiler chicken diets to enrich tissues with n-3 fatty acids (FA). However, non-starch polysaccharides (NSP) in flaxseed decreases nutrient digestibility and limits the availability of n-3 FA. Addition of carbohydrase enzymes to flaxseed-based diets can decrease the anti-nutritive effects of NSP....

The effect of milk consumption on childhood obesity is unclear and a direct demonstration of an association is needed. In the present study, we used piglets as a model for prepubertal children to determine the effect of milk on adipose tissue. Two studies were conducted: study 1 with 5-wk-old male piglets (n = 8) and study 2 with 8- to 9-wk-old mal...

In bovine mammary tissue and cells, liver X receptor (LXR) regulates lipid synthesis mainly via transactivation of the transcription factor sterol regulatory element binding protein 1 (SREBP1). In the present work, we investigated the role of LXR in controlling lipid synthesis via transactivation of SREBP1 in goat primary mammary cells (GMEC). The...

Reverse-Transcription quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) provides a valuable tool to study gene expression with exquisite sensitivity. To retain its inferential power, user-introduced technical variability must be reduced and accounted for. Selecting a set of stably expressed internal control genes (ICG), validated for each experimental condition/sample se...

Stearoyl-CoA desaturase 1 (SCD1) is a fatty acid desaturase catalyzing the cis double bond formation in Δ9 position to produce monounsaturated fatty acids essential for the synthesis of milk fat. Previous studies using RNAi methods have provided support for a role of SCD1 in goat mammary epithelial cells (GMEC); however, RNAi present several limita...

The consequences of a cattle crossbreeding programme on the genes expression, signalling and metabolic pathways, molecular networks, and biological functions is still indistinctive. In this study differences of five cattle populations in a crossbreeding programme were studied using high throughput sequencing technology to characterise their transcr...

The hypothesis of the study was that inhibition of PPARβ/δ increases glucose uptake and lactose synthesis in bovine mammary epithelial cells by reducing the expression of the glucose transporter mRNA destabiliser calreticulin. Three experiments were conducted to test the hypothesis using immortalised bovine mammary alveolar (MACT) and primary bovin...

Reverse transcription quantitative PCR (RTqPCR) is regarded as the most sensitive method to quantify RNA, but its extreme sensitivity makes it prone to methodological errors affecting the reliability of results. One of the most critical aspects to obtain reliable RTqPCR data is the normalization of raw data using reference genes (internal control g...

The combination of a sudden increase in metabolic demands and the reduced dry matter intake in early postpartum cows is regarded as the culprit of a sudden increase in nonesterifed fatty acids (NEFA), indicative of the rapid mobilization of lipid reserves. We hypothesized that the increase in concentration of circulating NEFA would alter gene expre...