Browsing by Author "Wu, Ziping"

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    100 essential questions for the future of agriculture
    (Wiley, 2023-04-11) Hu, Yuming; Zhao, Taolan; Guo, Yafang; Wang, Meng; Brachhold, Kerstin; Chu, Chengcai; Hanson, Andrew; Kumar, Sachin; Lin, Rongcheng; Long, Wenjin; Luo, Ming; Feng Ma, Jian; Miao, Yansong; Nie, Shaoping; Sheng, Yu; Shi, Weiming; Whelan, James; Wu, Qingyu; Wu, Ziping; Xie, Wei; Yang, Yinong; Zhao, Chao; Lei, Lei; Zhu, Yong-Guan; Zhang, Qifa
    The world is at a crossroad when it comes to agriculture. The global population is growing, and the demand for food is increasing, putting a strain on our agricultural resources and practices. To address this challenge, innovative, sustainable, and inclusive approaches to agriculture are urgently required. In this paper, we launched a call for Essential Questions for the Future of Agriculture and identified a priority list of 100 questions. We focus on 10 primary themes: transforming agri-food systems, enhancing resilience of agriculture to climate change, mitigating climate change through agriculture, exploring resources and technologies for breeding, advancing cultivation methods, sustaining healthy agroecosystems, enabling smart and controlled-environment agriculture for food security, promoting health and nutrition-driven agriculture, exploring economic opportunities and addressing social challenges, and integrating one health and modern agriculture. We emphasise the critical importance of interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research that integrates both basic and applied sciences and bridges the gaps among various stakeholders for achieving sustainable agriculture. Key points Growing demand and resource limitations pose a critical challenge for agriculture, necessitating innovative and sustainable approaches. The paper identifies 100 priority questions for the future of agriculture, indicating current and future research directions. Sustainable agriculture depends on interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research that harmonises basic and applied sciences and fosters collaboration among different stakeholders.
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    Glutamine in suppression of lipopolysaccharide-induced piglet intestinal inflammation: The crosstalk between AMPK activation and mitochondrial function
    (Elsevier (on behalf of KeAi Communications Co. Ltd), 2022-03-26) He, Liuqin; Zhou, Xihong; Wu, Ziping; Feng, Yanzhong; Liu, Di; Li, Tiejun; Yin, Yulong
    The study was conducted to investigate the regulatory mechanism of glutamine (Gln) on intestinal inflammation in an Escherichia coli lipopolysaccharide (E. coli LPS)-induced in vivo and in vitro models. Piglets (n = 8) weaned at 21 d of age were fed a basal diet (control and LPS groups) or 1% Gln diet (Gln + LPS group) ad libitum for 4 weeks. On d 22, 24, 26 and 28, piglets in the LPS and Gln + LPS groups were intraperitoneally injected with E. coli LPS. Intestinal porcine epithelial cells (IPEC-J2) (n = 6) induced by LPS were used to assess related mechanisms and compound C was used to inhibit adenosine 5′-monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK) activity. Our current results showed that compared with the LPS treatment, the Gln + LPS treatment had better growth performance and greater villus height (P < 0.05), and the Gln + LPS treatment reduced the rate of diarrhea by 6.4% (P < 0.05); the Gln + LPS treatment decreased serum tumor necrosis factor (TNF-ɑ), interleukin-6 (IL-6), K+, cortisol and insulin levels, whereas increased (P < 0.05) serum immunoglobulin M and epidermal growth factor levels; the Gln + LPS treatment increased (P < 0.05) the expression of aquaporins and AMPK pathway-associated targets in the jejunum and ileum of piglets, whereas decreased the expression of ion transporters (P < 0.05). The in vitro results showed that 4 mmol/L Gln administration could inhibit (P < 0.05) cell apoptosis and interleukin-1β (IL-1β), IL-6 and TNF-ɑ secretion in LPS-induced IPEC-J2 cells, promote (P < 0.05) mitochondrial respiratory metabolism and increase (P < 0.05) the number of mitochondria and mitochondrial membrane potential. The activity of AMPK was elevated by 70% to 300% in Gln-treated IPEC-J2 cells under LPS challenge or normal conditions. Our results indicate that pre-administration of Gln to piglets suppresses intestinal inflammation by modulating the crosstalk between AMPK activation and mitochondrial function.
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    Measuring the Sensitivity of the Northern Ireland Protocol on the All-Ireland Agri-Food Supply Chain
    (2023-03-29) Greig, Alastair; Wu, Ziping; Aguiar, Angel
    The agri-food sectors in Northern Ireland (NI) and Ireland (IRL) have become more integrated with more investments from IRL in the north and advances in all Ireland cooperation on animal health and welfare, and disease control. However, as both jurisdictions are considered structurally similar and both have a large dairy and beef sector, they are competing in the Great Britain (GB) market for agrifood products. When considering the island of Ireland agri-food sectors in the context of Brexit and the NI Protocol, there will be clear winners and losers under different Brexit and NI protocol scenarios. What constitutes a relatively “good” economic outcome for NI farmers may come at the expense of IRL farmers, while relatively “good” economic outcomes for IRL farmers may amplify negative outcomes for NI farmers. This paper analyses the impacts of the NI Protocol in terms of what it means for the agri-food sectors in IRL, NI, but also for the island of Ireland (ISL) as a whole.