Abstract: The effect of acrylate supplementation on the digestion, metabolism and body weight gain of sheep was investigated. Twenty-five healthy male China Merino sheep (Xinjiang type) with an average body weight of 32 kg were fed on a diet consisting of 25% concentrate and 75% forage. The sheep were divided into five groups: a control group, propionic groups (feed supplemented with 8 or 12 mmol propionic/d·sheep) and acrylate groups (feed supplemented with 8 or 12 mmol acrylate/d·sheep). There was no obvious effect of acrylate supplementation on (DMI) compared with the control and propionic groups. The addition of acrylate led to an increase (P>0.05) in hemicellulose digestibility by 5.15%-9.70% and cellulose digestibility by 3.64%-5.73% (P>0.05). The digestibility of calcium and phosphorus in the group fed 8 mmol acrylate was greater by 2.86% and 8.39% respectively (P>0.05) than that in the group fed 8 mmol propionic. Addition of acrylate at 8 and 12 mmol/d·sheep reduced urea nitrogen excretion by 12% and 18% (P>0.05) respectively, but elevated nitrogen retention rates by 5.35% and 3.91% (P>0.05). There was no obvious effect of addition of acrylate on body weight gain and feed efficiency compared with the control and propionic groups. It is suggested that acrylate supplementation did not significantly affect sheep DMI and digestibility of DM, CP, OM, hemicellulose, cellulose, and the metabolism of nitrogen compared with the controls.