On behalf of all the editors, both past and present, we welcome you all to this special Virtual Issue, celebrating the 100th volume of the Journal of Animal Physiology and Animal Nutrition (http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1439-0396/homepage/virtual_issue__celebrating_the_100th_volume_of_the_journal_of_animal_physiology_.htm). When the journal published its first volume in 1938, it was entitled, ‘Zeitschrift für Tierernährung und Futtermittelkunde’. Translated into English, the title literally reads ‘Journal of Animal Nutrition and Feed Science’. In 1938, there were a number of co-editors working on the journal: Prof. Lenkeit, Prof. Fingerling, Prof. Wöhlbier, Prof. Trautwein, Prof. Horn, Prof. Crasemann, Prof. Breirem, Prof. Brüggemann, Prof. Richter and Prof. Schürch. Prof. Walter Lenkeit took on the role of editor-in-chief of the journal in 1944 and remained in this position until 1976. During this time, the journal's name was changed in 1958 to, ‘Zeitschrift für Tierphysiologie Tierernährung und Futtermittelkunde’, which means, ‘Journal of Animal Physiology, Animal Nutrition and Feed Science’. Prof. Lenkeit guided the journal through a substantial period of change during his tenure as editor-in-chief and contributed heavily to the increase in the journal's reputation over this time period. He established the journal as the primary vessel for contributions in the field of animal physiology and animal nutrition. After 1976, Prof. Lenkeit continued on the journal, but as a co-editor alongside Prof. Alfred Schürch. In 1980, Prof. Manfred Kirchgeßner and Prof. Klaus-Dietrich Günther took over from Lenkeit and Schürch as co-editors of the journal, where they remained until 2003. Over the course of 23 years, both Prof. Kirchgeßner and Prof. Günther guided the journal through another period of change and development in the field. The journal underwent another name change during this period, and since 1986, the journal has been known by its current English title the ‘Journal of Animal Physiology and Animal Nutrition’. Prior to 1986, all contributions to the journal were in German. After the journal's English name change in 1986, contributions were a mixture of both German and English until 1999 when the journal only published in English. The journal began publishing in its current one volume per year format in 2001; prior to this, the journal published around two volumes per year. In 2003, E. Kienzle, M. Stangassinger and M. Verstegen took over as co-editors of the journal. The Journal of Animal Physiology and Animal Nutrition continues to this day to have a number of co-editors working on the journal – at present, we have 14 co-editors. Over the course of the last 77 years, over 3000 items have been published in the journal. It only seems appropriate, as we look forward to the future in this rapidly changing environment of scientific publishing, that we take a moment to reflect upon our origins and some of the seminal work that launched this publication. We could not think of a better way to accomplish this than to take research articles from the first volume in 1938 – which were originally written in German – and have the current editors of the journal provide accompanying commentaries to these articles in English, so that they are more accessible to non-German-speaking scientists. We are fortunate to have a number of German editors working on the journal, which reflects the journal's rich German heritage. In more recent years, we have had editors from other European countries join the board, as well as from the United States, reflecting the journal's international scope. You will immediately notice that all of the articles included in this Virtual Issue are studies in agricultural species. Companion animal studies did not appear in the journal until later on. Whilst the findings of these studies vary, the one common thread amongst them is that the results and outcomes of the research completed years ago are still very applicable today. Take for instance the two abstracts by Scharrer and Nebelsiek (1938) and Richter et al. (1938). The former describes conditions and outcomes similar to what many areas of the world are beginning to, or might expect to, experience in the near future due to climate change. The second abstract by Richter, Herbst and Ehinger explores the concept of nutritional sustainability by evaluating outcomes when cattle are fed indigenous plant species; a current topic of discussion and research given the predicted shortage of dietary protein in the not-so-distant future. By reading these first manuscripts, you will notice that the focus of the research in 1938 had a large emphasis on zootechnical performance. Over the years, the journal has evolved, and its research focus has evolved with it. Nowadays, the research emphasis is much more on the understanding of the physiological and molecular mechanisms and explaining the effects of these on performance traits. This shift in research focus happened around the same time that the journal's name changed from the ‘Journal of Animal Nutrition and Feed Science’ up until the journal's most recent name change to the ‘Journal of Animal Physiology and Animal Nutrition’. These articles and accompanying commentaries from the first volume underscore the importance of looking backward in order to progress forward. So, in that spirit, we hope you enjoy this 100th volume celebration Virtual Issue as much as we have enjoyed pulling it together.