از نوآوری‌های تغذیه‌ای تا زیست شناسی سامانه‌ای: نگاهی یک‌پارچه به مسیرهای نوین در علوم دام و طیور

Introduction
Modern animal science is moving beyond the traditional objective of maximizing production toward a broader framework in which feed efficiency, animal health, product quality, resilience, resource efficiency, environmental sustainability, and biological predictability are considered simultaneously. The six papers brought together in this issue are diverse in species, biological scale, and analytical approach, yet they collectively illustrate this transition from conventional production-oriented research toward integrated and increasingly data-driven animal science. (Ncho, 2025).
The study examining feed restriction and monensin supplementation in Kaboodeh Shiraz lambs additives. In extensive and semi-extensive production systems, seasonal fluctuations in forage availability can substantially affect animal performance. Understanding compensatory growth  and identifying appropriate nutritional interventions may therefore contribute to more efficient and resilient production systems under variable feed conditions (Salem et al., 2022). The protein–protein interaction analysis in honey bees illustrates another important transition in animal science: the movement from conventional phenotypic measurements toward systems biology, molecular networks, genomics and computational biology. Identifying hub genes involved in antioxidant defense and the potential coordinating role of vitellogenin provides an example of how network-based approaches can contribute to understanding complex stress responses and identifying candidate molecular markers for future breeding programs.
Finally, the study evaluating fermented sesame meal and probiotics in broilers highlights the potential of biological processing of feed ingredients and non-antibiotic nutritional strategies. Fermentation may reduce antinutritional factors and improve the nutritional usability of plant based feed resources, while probiotic supplementation can contribute to modulation of the gastrointestinal microbial environment and animal performance (Ncho, 2025).
Taken together, these contributions reflect a broader transformation in animal science in which nutrition, health, microbiota, biotechnology, genetics and production management are increasingly viewed as interconnected components of a single biological and production system. Future progress will depend increasingly on multidisciplinary research integrating phenotypic and molecular data, omics technologies, computational modeling, economic evaluation and environmental assessment (Hajimohammadi et al., 2020). The value of this collection therefore extends beyond the individual findings of each study. Collectively, the studies illustrate complementary pathways toward more productive, resilient and sustainable livestock and poultry systems. Efficient utilization of feed resources, responsible antimicrobial use, mitigation of environmental stress, maintenance of gastrointestinal health, application of biotechnology and identification of molecular mechanisms of stress adaptation all ultimately contribute to a common goal: producing safe and high-quality animal products more efficiently, with lower resource requirements and environmental impacts while safeguarding animal health and welfare (Ncho, 2025).
It is hoped that the studies presented in this collection will stimulate further interdisciplinary research in animal science, veterinary medicine, nutrition, microbiology, genetics and biotechnology and contribute to the development of scientifically sound, economically feasible and practically applicable solutions for modern livestock and poultry production.
Method
In this series, six research studies have been conducted using appropriate experimental designs and using farm and laboratory animals. The treatments studied mainly included different levels of feed ingredients, protein sources, bioactive compounds, and modern feed processing methods, and their effects on production, hematological, digestive, carcass, and quality indices of livestock products were evaluated. Trait measurements were performed using standard laboratory methods and validated methods for analyzing feed and biological samples, and the data were analyzed with statistical models appropriate to the experimental design. Finally, comparison of means and examination of main and interaction effects of treatments formed the basis for scientific inference and interpretation of study results.
Results
The first study evaluates different levels of garlic waste powder in suckling Holstein calves, focusing on growth performance, blood metabolites, and antioxidant activity. Its relevance extends beyond the evaluation of a single feed additive. Agricultural and food-processing by-products represent a potentially valuable resource for reducing feed costs and improving circularity, provided that their biological activity, safety, palatability, and dose-response relationships are adequately characterized. Natural phytogenic resources such as garlic may simultaneously influence growth-related metabolism and oxidative status, thereby connecting nutrition with animal health. This approach is consistent with current efforts to develop feed additives and alternative ingredients that improve efficiency while reducing dependence on conventional inputs.
The second paper investigates raw and fermented sesame meal in combination with probiotics in broiler chickens, considering performance, carcass characteristics, gastrointestinal microbial populations, and meat quality. This study addresses a central challenge of modern poultry nutrition: the need to diversify protein resources without compromising biological performance or product quality. Fermentation is particularly important because biological processing can modify nutrient availability and reduce selected antinutritional factors. The combination of fermented ingredients with probiotics also illustrates a shift from ingredient replacement toward functional feed design, in which the physicochemical properties of a feed ingredient and its interaction with the intestinal microbiome are considered together. Such strategies are increasingly relevant to sustainable poultry production because alternative protein sources can contribute to resource efficiency when their limitations are biologically managed.
The third study examines the duration of qualitative feed restriction and the use of the ionophore monensin in male Kaboudeh Shiraz lambs, with emphasis on compensatory growth and finishing performance. The conceptual value of this work lies in recognizing that animal response to a feed additive cannot always be interpreted independently of nutritional history. Compensatory growth is a dynamic biological process influenced by the severity and duration of restriction, nutrient availability during refeeding, maturity, genotype, and management. Therefore, the efficacy of an additive may depend on the physiological context in which it is used. This perspective encourages a move from simple additive-versus-control comparisons toward context-dependent nutritional strategies.
The fourth paper focuses on nutrient composition and in vitro fermentation dynamics of malt spent-grain silage containing carbohydrate sources. Here, the feed is viewed not as a static material but as a biological substrate whose nutritional value is modified through fermentation. Understanding fermentation dynamics is essential for predicting preservation quality, nutrient availability, and the potential contribution of agro-industrial by-products to ruminant diets. The study therefore contributes to the circular-bioeconomy perspective in animal nutrition, in which food-industry residues are transformed into stable and nutritionally useful feed resources.
The fifth study evaluates how genotype determination scenarios, heritability, and marker density influence genomic prediction accuracy and selection response in sheep. This work represents a different but complementary level of precision. Nutritional interventions modify the phenotype during the lifetime of an animal, whereas genomic selection aims to modify the genetic potential of populations across generations. Genomic prediction is affected by the architecture of the trait, heritability, reference population, marker density, and statistical model. Evidence from sheep populations shows that increasing marker density can improve prediction accuracy, although the magnitude of improvement depends on trait heritability and model choice. This reinforces the importance of designing breeding programs according to the genetic architecture and information structure of the target population rather than assuming that a single genomic strategy is universally optimal.
The sixth paper uses protein–protein interaction network analysis to investigate pleiotropic relationships involving vitellogenin in the honey bee stress-response network. This study demonstrates how animal science is increasingly incorporating systems biology and computational approaches. Rather than measuring one phenotype at a time, network analysis can identify molecular hubs and connections among antioxidant defense, stress response, immunity, and metabolic regulation. The identification of vitellogenin as a potentially important connector between biological modules illustrates how molecular networks can generate mechanistic hypotheses that may later be tested experimentally.
Taken together, these six contributions suggest that the future of animal science will depend increasingly on integration across biological scales. At the feed level, alternative ingredients, phytogenic additives, fermentation, and probiotics can improve resource efficiency. At the animal level, metabolic and antioxidant responses provide information about health and adaptation. At the population level, genomic prediction can accelerate genetic improvement. At the molecular level, network analysis can identify regulatory hubs and candidate mechanisms. These levels should not be considered independent. Nutrition can influence microbiota and molecular pathways; host genotype can influence nutritional response and microbiome composition; and environmental stress can modify both phenotypic and molecular responses.Thus, the six papers in this collection should be viewed not as isolated studies but as complementary components of a broader transition toward precision, resilient, and sustainable animal production.
The editorial message emerging from this collection is therefore clear: the next generation of animal science should connect interventions with mechanisms, phenotypes with biological networks, and individual experiments with system-level outcomes. Future studies should increasingly combine standardized phenotyping, longitudinal sampling, microbiome characterization, genomic information, metabolomics or proteomics, and robust statistical or machine-learning frameworks.
Conclusions
The six studies collectively demonstrate that innovation in animal science is occurring simultaneously at the feed, animal, population, and molecular levels. The most valuable future research will be that which connects these levels, evaluates trade-offs, and translates mechanistic knowledge into scalable interventions. Precision nutrition, circular feed resources, microbiome-informed strategies, genomic selection, and systems biology are not separate scientific directions; together, they constitute an emerging framework for more efficient, healthier, resilient, and sustainable animal production.
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