Effect of dioscorea opposite waste on growth performance, blood parameters, rumen fermentation and rumen bacterial community in weaned lambs

This study investigated the effects of dioscorea opposite waste (DOW) on the growth performance, blood parameters, rumen fermentation and rumen microbiota of weaned lambs. Sixty healthy weaned Small-Tailed Han lambs (male, (22.68 & PLUSMN;2.56) kg initially) were used as the experimental animals. Four levels of concentrate: 0 (control, CON), 10% (DOW1), 15% (DOW2) and 20% (DOW3), were replaced with DOW in the basal diet as experimental treatments. The results showed that lambs fed the DOW2 diet had a higher (P<0.05) dry matter intake (DMI) than the other groups. There was no significant difference (P>0.05) among DOW groups in average daily weight gain (ADG), and replacing concentrate with DOW linearly or quadratically increased (P<0.05) the ADG, while lambs fed the DOW2 diet showed greater (P<0.05) ADG than the CON group. The relative plasma concentration of growth hormone (GH), insulin like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) and insulin were affected by DOW, replacing concentrate with DOW linearly or quadratically (P<0.05) enhanced the plasma concentration of GH, IGF-1 and insulin, which was significantly higher (P<0.05) in the DOW2 group than in the CON, DOW1 and DOW3 groups. In addition, the DOW treatment showed a lower (P<0.05) concentration of blood urea nitrogen (BUN) than the CON group. Replacing concentrate with DOW quadratically decreased (P<0.05) the ruminal ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N) and increased (P<0.05) the total of volatile fatty acids (TVFAs) at 0 and 4 h after feeding as well as linearly decreased (P<0.05) the NH3-N at 8 h after feeding. Replacing concentrate with DOW linearly decreased (P<0.05) the propionate and increased the aceate before feeding, and linearly decreased (P<0.05) propionate and quadratically increased (P<0.05) the aceate at 4 and 8 h after feeding. Lambs fed the DOW2 diet increased the phylum Firmicutes and genera Succiniclasticum and Ruminococcus_1 groups, whereas decreased (P<0.05) the relative abundance of phylum Deferribacteres and genera intestinimonas and Ruminiclostridium. In summary, replacing the concentrate with 15% DOW was beneficial for improving the rumen fermentation and ADG by increasing the DMI and modulating the rumen microbial community.

Automated summary

This study investigated the effects of dioscorea opposite waste (DOW) on the growth performance, blood parameters, rumen fermentation and rumen microbiota of weaned lambs. The results showed that replacing concentrate with DOW linearly or quadratically increased the average daily weight gain (ADG) and improved the rumen fermentation, while lambs fed the DOW2 diet showed the highest ADG and the most beneficial changes in rumen microbial community.