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Acta Prataculturae Sinica ›› 2025, Vol. 34 ›› Issue (7): 120-131.DOI: 10.11686/cyxb2024414

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Effects of adding cellulase to the starter diet on the production performance, organ development, fatty acid composition, and serum antioxidant indices of Hu lambs

Chun-yan REN1(), Zhi-yun HAO1, Rui BING2, Ying-dong HUO3, Hai-bi ZHAO1, Peng-fei YIN1, De-fu TANG1, Shu-qin LIN1, Ji-qing WANG1()   

  1. 1.College of Animal Science and Technology,Gansu Agricultural University,Lanzhou 730070,China
    2.Animal Disease Prevention and Control Center,Longnan City,Longnan 746023,China
    3.Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Station of Guochengyi Town,Huining County,Huining 730726,China
  • Received:2024-10-22 Revised:2024-12-27 Online:2025-07-20 Published:2025-05-12
  • Contact: Ji-qing WANG

Abstract:

We investigated the effects adding cellulase to the starter diet on the production performance, organ development, muscle fatty acid content, and serum antioxidant indexes of Hu lambs. Twenty-four 15-day-old male Hu lambs with similar birth weights were divided into two groups: control (12 lambs fed with a starter diet) and treatment (12 lambs fed with a starter diet containing cellulase at 0.1% w/v). The experiment had a randomized group design. The test lambs were lactated with their mothers from 0 to 15 days of age, and then separated at 15 days of age and fed with milk replacer and kibble in a single pen. They were weaned at 60 days of age, and continued to feed freely on kibble after weaning. The experiment ended when the lambs reached 120 days of age. The main results were follows: 1) The body weight, average daily gain, and average daily feed intake of lambs were significantly higher in the treatment group than in the control group (P<0.05) at the pre-weaning stage; but significantly lower in the treatment group than in the control group (P<0.05) post-weaning. 2) At 60 days of age, the slaughter rate and lung index were significantly higher in the treatment group than in the control group (P<0.05). At 120 days of age, the carcass weight and slaughter rate as well as heart indices were significantly higher in the control group than in the treatment group (P<0.05). 3) At 60 days of age, the concentrations of butyric acid, myristic acid, and palmitic acid in the longissimus dorsi muscle were significantly higher in the control group than in the treatment group (P<0.05), whereas the concentration of pentadecanoic acid was significantly lower in the control group than in the treatment group (P<0.05). At 120 days of age, the heneicosanoic acid concentration was significantly higher in the control group than in the treatment group, and the lignoceric acid concentration was significantly lower in the control group than in the treatment group (P<0.05). As lamb age increased, the concentrations of caproic acid, caprylic acid, undecenoic acid, myristic acid, pentadecanoic acid, arachidic acid, elaidic acid, and lignoceric acid significantly decreased in the control group; and those of pentadecanoic acid, elaidic acid, and lignoceric acid significantly decreased and that of palmitic acid significantly increased in the treatment group (P<0.05). 4) At 60 days of age, the concentrations of myristoleic acid, palmitoleic acid, heptadecaenoic acid, oleic acid, γ-linolenic acid, and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) in the longissimus dorsi muscle were significantly higher in the control group than in the treatment group (P<0.05). At 120 days of age, the concentration of myristoleic acid was significantly higher in the control group than in the treatment group (P<0.05). From 60 to 120 days of age, in the control group, the concentrations of heptadecaenoic acid, eicossahexaenoic acid, arachidonic acid, EPA and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) significantly decreased, and the concentration of myristoleic acid significantly increased; in the treatment group, the concentrations of monounsaturated fatty acids, myristoleic acid, palmitoleic acid, and oleic acid significantly increased (P<0.05), and the concentrations of polyunsaturated fatty acids, linoleic acid, α-linolenic acid, eicosadienoic acid, eicossahexaenoic acid, epoxyeicosatrienoic acids, arachidonic acid, EPA and DHA significantly decreased (P<0.05). 5) At 60 days of age, all indexes were significantly higher (P<0.05) in the control group than in the treatment group, except for the malondialdehyde concentration, which showed no significant difference. At 120 days of age, the values of all indexes were significantly higher in the treatment group than in the control group (P<0.05), except for the superoxide dismutase concentration, which was significantly lower (P<0.05). These results show that the addition of 0.1% cellulase to the starter diet improved the digestion, feed utilization, and slaughter performance of Hu lambs; it promoted fatty acid accumulation and affected fatty acid composition in muscle, which were beneficial to health pre-weaning, and improved antioxidant indices post-weaning.

Key words: cellulase, lamb, production performance, organ development, fatty acids, serum antioxidant index