Flaxseed Oil and Heated Flaxseed Supplements Have Different Effects on Lipid Deposition and Ileal Microbiota in Albas Cashmere Goats

Abstract

The present study investigated the effect of flaxseed grain or flaxseed oil on ileal microbiota and lipid deposition of cashmere goats. Sixty kid goats (average body weight 18.6 ± 0.1 kg) were allocated to three treatments, fed for 90 days, with control treatment: basal diet (CON, total-mixed ration), experimental treatment: basal diet with added flaxseed oil (LNO), experimental treatment: basal diet with added heated flaxseed grain (HLS). The final body weight, body weight gain, the weight of kidney fat, omental fat, tail fat, and fat tissue, the activity of fatty acid synthetase, acetyl-coa carboxylase, and malic dehydrogenase, and the relative abundance (RA) of unclassified_f_Peptostreptococcaceae and Intestinibacter were remarkably higher in the LNO treatment than in the HLS treatment, but the [Eubacterium]_coprostanoligenes_group RA showed the opposite result. The content of triglyceride, cholesterol, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol were significantly higher in the CON and LNO treatments than in the HLS treatment, while the hormone-sensitive lipase activity and the non-esterified fatty acid content showed the opposite result. In conclusion, the flaxseed grain is more efficient than flaxseed oil in ameliorating the blood lipid profiles and it is a potential product for decreasing the lipid deposition of cashmere goats.

Keywords: cashmere goats; flaxseed; flaxseed oil; ileal microbiota; lipid deposition.

Figure 1

The OTU rarefaction curves of the ileum digesta bacterial communities. Curves were drawn using the least sequenced sample as the upper limit for the rarefactions. Each color represents one treatment: The red curves represent kids fed the basal diet (CON), the blue curves represent kids fed the basal diet supplemented with flaxseed oil (LNO), and the green curves represent kids fed the basal diet supplemented with heated flaxseed grain (HLS).

Figure 2

Principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) (using the weighted Unifrac similarity metric) of bacterial operational taxonomic units (OTUs) in the ileum digesta of goat kids. Each symbol represents one treatment: The solid red circle represents kids fed the basal diet (CON), the solid blue triangle represents kids fed the basal diet supplemented with flaxseed oil (LNO), and the solid green rhombus represents kids fed the basal diet supplemented with heated flaxseed grain (HLS).

Figure 3

Venn plot of operational taxonomic units (OTUs) showing the percent of observations for each OTU (>0.5%) present in each dietary group (flaxseed oil, LNO, heated flaxseed grain, HLS, CON). Each color represents one treatment: The red represents kids fed the basal diet (CON), the blue represents kids fed the basal diet supplemented with flaxseed oil (LNO), and the green represents kids fed the basal diet supplemented with heated flaxseed grain (HLS).