Abstract
Simple SummaryIt is well known that mulberry leaves can be used in animal feed because of their high yield, rich protein content, and palatability. Our study found that partially replacing Chinese wildrye with mulberry leaves could improve meat quality without negatively affecting the growth performance, blood metabolites, and carcass characteristics of sheep. The study suggests that mulberry leaves partially substituted for conventional forage in the diet of sheep may be an effective strategy to alleviate the shortage of high-quality forage sources and to reduce feed costs.The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of partially substituting for conventional forage, Chinese wildrye (CW), with mulberry leaves (ML) on the growth, digestion, ruminal fermentation, blood metabolites, and meat quality of sheep in a 65-day feedlot study. Thirty-two four-month-old male small-tailed Han sheep (25.15 ± 1.03 kg) were randomly assigned to one of four treatments. The dietary treatments consisted of four proportions of ML (0, 8, 24, and 32%) as a substitute for CW (designated as ML0, ML8, ML24, and ML32, respectively). Rumen digesta and blood samples were collected at day 63 of the trial. Carcass traits were assessed after slaughter at the end of performance period. The results from this study revealed no differences in average daily bodyweight gain (ADG), feed conversion ratio (FCR), and final body weight (FBW) among treatments. The apparent digestibility of dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM), and acid detergent fiber (ADF) was higher in the sheep fed with ML than in those fed CW. The ML24 treatment had a higher digestibility of crude protein (CP) and ether extract (EE). There were no differences (p = 0.13) in ruminal pH values among the treatments. However, there was more microbial protein (p < 0.01) in ML24 and ML32 treatments than the ML0 treatment. Ruminal concentrations of acetate and butyrate were significantly different among treatments, although no difference in concentrations of total volatile fatty acid were found. Additionally, no differences were detected for serum parameters except blood urea nitrogen (BUN). No differences were observed for carcass weight (p = 0.62), dressing percentage (p = 0.31) or longissimus dorsi muscle (LM) area (p = 0.94) among treatments. However, intramuscular fat was higher in the ML24 treatment than in the ML0 treatment. (p < 0.01). There were higher pH values of the 24-h longissimus dorsi in the ML24 treatment than in the ML0 treatment. In addition, the saturated fatty acid (SFA) content was lower (p < 0.01) and the monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA) content higher (p < 0.01) in the ML24 treatment than in the ML0 treatment. In conclusion, the partially substitution of mulberry leaves for Chinese wildrye in the diet of sheep had a beneficial influence on the growth performance, blood metabolites and carcass characteristics. The inclusion of 24% (air dry basis) mulberry leaf hay in the ration of sheep is recommended based on these findings.
Highlights
Chinese wildrye (CW) is a native, cool-season perennial species of gramineae that is mainly distributed in the Eurasian Steppe, including the eastern Inner Mongolian Plateau and the north-easternChina [1]
The mulberry leaves (ML) was sourced from the sericulture Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, which was carefully dried by air and kept for the feeding trial
Niu [33] and Uribe [34] observed that cattle fed silage mulberry leaves could have a higher abundance of ruminal bacteria and higher reproduction of fiber-degrading bacteria, which could be a reason for the higher digestibility of NDF and NDF in the ML treatment
Summary
Chinese wildrye (CW) is a native, cool-season perennial species of gramineae that is mainly distributed in the Eurasian Steppe, including the eastern Inner Mongolian Plateau and the north-easternChina [1]. It has been found that mulberry leaves contain a variety of active substances, including polysaccharides, flavonoids, and polyphenols, which can reduce blood glucose and triglycerides, and have the function of antioxidation and regulation of lipid metabolism [7,8,9,10]. Mulberry leaves and their residuals can be used to supplement the forage of ruminants when a high-quality forage source is limited [11].
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