Dietary Supplementation of Fruit from Nitraria tangutorum Improved Immunity and Abundance of Beneficial Ruminal Bacteria in Hu Sheep

• Published in: Animals (Basel) Vol. 12; no. 22; p. 3211
• Main Authors: Du, Xia, Cheng, Xindong, Dong, Qiaoxia, Zhou, Jianwei, Degen, Abraham Allan, Jiao, Dan, Ji, Kaixi, Liang, Yanping, Wu, Xiukun, Yang, Guo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 19.11.2022; MDPI
• Subjects: Abundance; Antioxidants; Bacteria; Bans; bioactive substances; Biochemistry; Dehydrogenases; Enzymes; Feeds; Fermentation; Fruits; Hu rams; IgG antibody; Immunity; Immunoglobulin G; L-Lactate dehydrogenase; Lactate dehydrogenase; Lactic acid; Latin square design; medicinal plants; Microbiota; Nitraria tangutorum; Ovis aries; Proteins; Rams; Relative abundance; Rumen; rumen fermentation; rumen microbiota; serum biochemistry; Sheep; Taxonomy; Variables; United States > US; China; serum biochemistry; rumen fermentation; medicinal plants; bioactive substances; Hu rams; rumen microbiota
• ISSN: 2076-2615; 2076-2615
• DOI: 10.3390/ani12223211

The fruit of (FNT) is reputed to possess medicinal properties; however, its effect on sheep ( ) is unknown. The aim of this study was to fill this gap. In a 3 × 3 Latin square design, six 12-month-old rumen-fistulated Hu rams (56.2 ± 8.26 kg; mean ± SD) were penned individually and offered one of three levels of FNT, namely, 0 g/d (control; CON), 16 g/d (N ), and 48 g/d (N ). The concentration of serum immunoglobulin G increased linearly ( = 0.03) with an increasing intake of FNT. The serum concentration of β-hydroxybutyrate in the N group was lower than in the CON group ( = 0.01) and decreased linearly with increasing FNT ( = 0.001). The concentration of serum lactate dehydrogenase tended to decrease ( = 0.07) linearly with an increase in FNT intake, while the concentration of glucose did not differ among groups ( = 0.14) but displayed a quadratic curve with an increase in FNT ( = 0.05). The rumen concentration of lipase decreased linearly with increasing FNT ( = 0.04). The rumen fermentation variables were not affected by FNT. The FNT intake increased the abundance of beneficial ruminal bacteria, such as , Rhodocyclaceae, and Arthromitus. , _ _ _ , , , _ _ , and were the dominant bacterial genera in all treatments. We conclude that FNT can improve immunity and increase the relative abundance of beneficial ruminal bacteria in sheep.