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Understanding Rumen Microbiology: An Overview
The rumen is the largest of the four chambers of the “stomach” in ruminant animals, which harbors an incredibly dense, diverse, and dynamic microbial community crucial for feedstuff degradation, animal health, and production. The primary objective of this article is to enhance knowledge and comprehension of rumen microbiology by providing an introductory-level overview of the field of rumen microbiology. Ruminants possess a distinctive digestive system optimized for the microbial breakdown of complex plant materials. The ruminant ”stomach” consists of four chambers (e.g., reticulum, rumen, omasum, and abomasum), which is home to a microbial population that degrades feedstuffs consumed by ruminant animals. Dr. Robert Hungate and Dr. Marvin Bryant’s groundbreaking research in the 1960s laid the foundation for understanding the function of the ruminal microbial ecosystem. Recent advancements (e.g., next-generation sequencing) have provided the field with deeper insight into populations, boosting our understanding of how the microbial population of the rumen functions in a variety of conditions. The ruminal microbial ecosystem is comprised of bacteria, along with archaea, protozoa, bacteriophage, and fungi, each contributing to the symbiotic relationship between the microbial ecosystem and the host animal that is essential for optimal animal health and efficient animal production. Traditional anaerobic growth techniques have facilitated the study of individual anaerobic bacteria but have been limited by dependence on growth in laboratory conditions. The development of 16S rRNA sequencing allows the identification of microbial populations that cannot be grown and allows an unbiased view of microbial diversity. Diet shapes the rumen microbial population composition, influencing animal production metrics such as feed efficiency, methane emissions, and immunological functions. Feed additives (e.g., essential oils, eubiotics) hold promise by manipulating and unraveling the microbial biochemical potential for improving animal health, feed efficiency, environmental impacts, and overall production sustainability. Future research impacts include the development of probiotics, prebiotics, and genetic strategies for optimizing the rumen microbiome’s multifaceted impacts.
  • 287
  • 30 Jan 2024
Topic Review
Understanding Pet Food Attribute Preferences of US Consumers
This encyclopedia entry is dedicated to pet food attributes and builds on the work of Meike Rombach and David Dean. Partial least squares structural equation modelling shows that pet food purchase involvement positively impacts subjective and objective knowledge about pet food. Subjective knowledge appears to be the strongest factor impacting the importance consumers place on all three attributes. This is followed by objective knowledge. Socio-demographic factors such as gender, age, income, and education appear to have a limited impact as predictors for the importance consumers place on the product attributes.
  • 1.4K
  • 17 Jan 2022
Topic Review
Understanding Perceptions of Leaders by Video Vignettes
Video vignettes are one form of virtualized vignettes that may build upon traditional text vignettes and enable research participants to see and experience a unique scenario that is better translated visually rather than through a written text. 
  • 218
  • 22 Dec 2023
Topic Review
Understanding of Immunity, Pathogenesis and Management of COVID-19
Coronaviruses represent a diverse family of enveloped positive-sense single stranded RNA viruses. COVID-19, caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2, is a highly contagious respiratory disease transmissible mainly via close contact and respiratory droplets which can result in severe, life-threatening respiratory pathologies. It is understood that glutathione, a naturally occurring antioxidant known for its role in immune response and cellular detoxification, is the target of various proinflammatory cytokines and transcription factors resulting in the infection, replication, and production of reactive oxygen species. This leads to more severe symptoms of COVID-19 and increased susceptibility to other illnesses such as tuberculosis.
  • 429
  • 08 Sep 2022
Topic Review
Understanding Invasion, Ecological Adaptations, Management of Bactrocera dorsalis
Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel, 1912) (Diptera: Tephritidae), commonly known as the oriental fruit fly, is a highly destructive pest that globally infests fruits and vegetables, resulting in significant annual economic losses. Initially detected in Taiwan Island, it has rapidly expanded its distribution range to various regions in mainland China since the 1980s, with a continuous northward spread. To mitigate the damage caused by this pest, extensive efforts have been undertaken to comprehend its ecological and physiological adaptations and develop management strategies.
  • 542
  • 21 Sep 2023
Topic Review
Understanding Hotel Service Failures
Service failure is inevitable. Service in the hospitality industry involves multiple interactions between the service providers and customers, and a high risk of service failures accompanies these interactions. Although empirical studies on the outcomes and processes of service failures have been conducted in the hotel industry, the findings need more exploration to understand how different segments perceive service failures and the associated emotions differently. This study revealed the similarities and differences between groups (i.e., men vs. women and leisure vs. business) in reporting service failures. Different meanings of words that emerged from the text-mining results were also examined to ensure a more comprehensive understanding of the guest experience.
  • 4.1K
  • 15 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Understanding HII Framework and Related Technologies
The Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) is currently the most popular industry standard, defining the software interface between an operating system and its underlying platform firmware. HII (Human Interface Infrastructure) is a part of the UEFI specification, which provides a standard framework for managing user interfaces based on UEFI systems. 
  • 676
  • 17 Nov 2023
Topic Review
Understanding COVID-19 Vaccines Today: Are T-cells Key Players?
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) has heavily mutated since the beginning of the coronavirus-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. In this regard, the so-called variants of concern (VOCs) feature mutations that confer increased transmissibility and evasion of antibody responses. The VOCs have caused significant spikes in COVID-19 cases, raising significant concerns about whether COVID-19 vaccines will protect against current and future variants. In this research, whereas the protection COVID-19 vaccines offer against the acquisition of infection appears compromised, the protection against severe COVID-19 is maintained. From an immunologic standpoint, this is likely underpinned by the maintenance of T-cell responses against VOCs. Therefore, the role of T-cells is essential to understanding the broader adaptive immune response to COVID-19, which has the potential to shape public policies on vaccine protocols and inform future vaccine design.
  • 470
  • 21 Jun 2022
Topic Review
Understanding Cotton Irrigation Management
A change in climate as well as a decrease in water resources, calls for efficient irrigation-water management in cotton-production systems. Cotton (Gossypium sp.) is an important cash crop in many countries. However, the crop is sensitive to limited water, especially during the flowering stage and appropriate irrigation scheduling is needed depending upon location, climatic conditions, and irrigation method and regimes. Future studies on Kc, cotton water use and evapotranspiration, optimum population, the timing of irrigation termination (IT) in each location are needed for resource use efficiency.
  • 710
  • 09 Sep 2021
Topic Review
Understanding Apple Attribute Preferences of US Consumers
Fresh apples are a commonly consumed and widely available product in food markets around the world.
  • 993
  • 17 Jan 2022
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