Dietary Supplementation of Lysophospholipids Affects Feed Digestion in Lambs

Abstract

Simple SummaryPrevious works showed that supplementation of lysophospholipid as a feed additive improves animal growth and milk yield in beef and dairy cattle production. However, its effects on fattening lambs have not been reported before. In this study, we fed fattening lambs a diet with no or 0.5 g lysophospholipid in a kilogram of diet. We found that lysophospholipid did not or slightly improved the growth of fattening lambs. Feed digestibility, ruminal fermentation parameters and rumen bacterial community were altered, which may be associated with decreased fiber digestion. However, lipase concentration in serum was decreased, which might enhance fat deposition in muscle and thus may increase meat quality. Effects of lysophospholipid on sheep observed in this study are different from those on cattle, which warrants further study.AbstractFive experiments were conducted to examine effects of lysophospholipids (LPL) on live weight gain, nutrient digestibility, ruminal fermentation parameters, serum biochemical parameters and rumen bacterial community profile in fattening lambs. Two dietary treatments (pelleted complete feed supplemented without (control diet; CON) or with 0.05% LPL on dry matter basis) were tested in these experiments. Feed and water were provided ad libitum to lambs. The results showed that average daily gain (ADG) tended to increase or was not affected by LPL supplementation. Compared with CON, the supplementation of LPL resulted in an increase in dry matter, crude protein and organic matter digestibilities, and a decrease in neutral detergent fiber and acid detergent fiber digestibilities. Ruminal pH values did not change with LPL supplementation, but the concentrations of ammonia and total short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) were increased. The molar proportion of major individual SCFAs and the ratio of acetate to propionate were not affected by LPL supplementation. While the activity of lipase was decreased with LPL supplementation, all other serum biochemical parameters did not change. Rumen bacterial community was altered by LPL supplementation with the relative abundance of fibrolytic bacteria in the total bacterial population, such as Prevotella, decreased. In conclusion, LPL supplementation can alter feed digestion, but may not result in consistent positive responses in animal growth performance.

Pelleting of a Total Mixed Ration Affects Growth Performance of Fattening Lambs

“…The three most abundant bacterial phyla were Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, and Proteobacteria, accounting for 95.8% of the total bacterial population in this study. This profile of bacteria community is consistent with other studies feeding diets with similar chemical composition to lambs ( 12 ) and the two most abundant phyla (Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes) are the same as reported by Zhang et al ( 13 ). The most abundant bacteria at genus level were Prevotella 1, Prevotella 7, Rikenellaceae RC9 gut group, Succinivibrio, Ruminococcus 2, Succinivibrionaceae UCG-001, Selenomonas 1 , and Lachnospiraceae NK3A20 group .…”

“…Approximately 5 ml of blood was collected from the jugular vein into coagulation promoting tubes with separating gel (Sanli Industrial Co., Ltd., Huizhou, China). Rumen contents were collected using an oesophagal tube ( 12 ). The pH of the rumen samples was measured immediately after sampling using a pH meter (LICHEN pH-100A, Shanghai Lichen Scientific Laboratory Instrument Ltd., Shanghai, China).…”

“…Rumen samples for the determination of SCFA and ammonia concentrations were thawed, centrifuged at 4°C in 8,000 × g for 10 min, filtered, and analysed using the method described by Huo et al ( 12 ). The identification and quantification of SCFA were performed with an FFAP 30 m × 3 mm × 0.25 μm capillary polar column using a gas chromatograph system (model GC9790; Fuli Instruments Ltd., Wenling, Zhenjiang, China) fitted with a flame ionisation detector, while ammonia was quantified using the Indigo phenol blue-spectrophotometry method ( 37 ) modified by Feng and Gao ( 38 ).…”

“…The rumen bacterial community profile was characterised according to Huo et al ( 12 ). Briefly, total genome DNA was extracted using the E.Z.N.A.® Soil DNA Kit (Omega Bio-tek, Norcross, GA, U.S.A.), and the 16S rRNA genes were amplified using hypervariable V3-V4 region PCR primers (341F: 5-CCTAYGGGRBGCASCAG-3; 806R: 5-GGACTACNNGGGTATCTAAT-3).…”

Dietary Supplementation of Yeast Culture Into Pelleted Total Mixed Rations Improves the Growth Performance of Fattening Lambs

“…Rumen samples ( ca . 50 ml) for the analysis of rumen fermentation parameters were taken using an oesophageal tube with the first 50 ml discarded to minimise saliva contamination in a procedure described by Huo et al ( 21 ). pH value was immediately measured using a pH metre (LICHEN pH-100 A, Shanghai Lichen Scientific Laboratory Instrument Ltd., Shanghai, China).…”