Effects of Artemisia ordosica Crude Polysaccharide on Antioxidant and Immunity Response, Nutrient Digestibility, Rumen Fermentation, and Microbiota in Cashmere Goats

Abstract

The objective of this experiment was to investigate the effect of dietary supplementation with Artemisia ordosica crude polysaccharide (AOCP) on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, antioxidant and immunity capacity, rumen fermentation parameters, and the microbiota of cashmere goats. A total of 12 cashmere goats (2 years old) with similar weight (38.03 ± 2.42 kg of BW ± SD) were randomly divided into two dietary treatments with six replicates. The treatments were as follows: (1) control (CON, basal diet); and (2) AOCP treatment (AOCP, basal diet with 0.3% AOCP). Pre-feeding was conducted for 7 days, followed by an experimental period of 21 days. The results showed that the ADG; feed/gain (F/G); and the digestibility of DM, CP, and ADF of cashmere goats in the AOCP group were greater than in the CON group (p < 0.05). Still, there was no significant effect on the digestibility of EE, NDF, Ca, and P (p > 0.05). Compared to the CON group, AOCP increased BCP, propionate, butyrate, isobutyrate, valerate, isovalerate, and TVFA concentrations (p < 0.05), but it reduced the protozoa numbers of acetate and A/P (p < 0.05). The serum CAT, GSH-Px, T-SOD, 1L-6, and NO levels were higher in AOCP than in the CON group (p < 0.05). The addition of AOCP increased the Sobs and Ace estimators (p < 0.05) and reduced the Simpson estimator in the ruminal fluid compared to the CON group (p < 0.05). Additionally, the AOCP group increased the colonization of beneficial bacteria by positively influencing GSH-Px and IL-6 (norank_f__F082, unclassified_p__Firmicutes), as well as bacteria negatively associated with F/G (norank_f__norank_o__Bacteroidales, unclassified_p__Firmicutes, and norank_f__F082). It decreased the colonization of potential pathogenic bacteria (Aeromonas and Escherichia-Shigella) (p < 0.05) compared to the CON group. In conclusion, 0.3% AOCP improves the growth performance, nutrient digestibility, antioxidant status, immune function, rumen fermentation, and microflora of cashmere goats.

Keywords: Artemisia ordosica; animal health; cashmere goat; natural extracts; ruminal microbiota.

Figure 1

The ruminal fluid richness and diversity in CON and AOCP groups at (A) Rarefaction curve. (B) OTU Venn of two diets. (C) Comparison of a-diversity indices of two dietary treatments. ab Means in two groups that do not have a common marked letter differ significantly (p < 0.05).

Figure 1

The ruminal fluid richness and diversity in CON and AOCP groups at (A) Rarefaction curve. (B) OTU Venn of two diets. (C) Comparison of a-diversity indices of two dietary treatments. ab Means in two groups that do not have a common marked letter differ significantly (p < 0.05).

Figure 2

Beta diversity analysis of ruminal microbiota through (A) principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) and (B) non-metric multidimensional scaling analysis (NMDS).

Figure 3

Relative abundance of ruminal microbiota at the (A) phylum and (B) family levels.

Figure 4

Differences in the rumen microbiota compositions at the (A) phylum level based on a contribution degree at top 10 and (B) family level based on a contribution degree at top 15. * p < 0.05.

Figure 5

LefSE analysis of ruminal microbiota among two dietary treatments. (A) Linear discriminant analysis (LDA) score of the rumen microbiota, and a score ≥ 2 means significant. (B) Cladogram of LEfSe shows taxonomic profiling from the genus level. The yellow node represents no difference, but other color nodes represent significant difference. (C) Spearman′s correlation analysis between F/G, ruminal fermentation, serum oxidative and inflammatory status, and ruminal microbiota by LefSE analysis of ruminal microbiota from genus level. Only genera with p ≤ 0.01 were concerned (* 0.01 < p ≤ 0.05, ** 0.001 < p ≤ 0.01).

Figure 5

LefSE analysis of ruminal microbiota among two dietary treatments. (A) Linear discriminant analysis (LDA) score of the rumen microbiota, and a score ≥ 2 means significant. (B) Cladogram of LEfSe shows taxonomic profiling from the genus level. The yellow node represents no difference, but other color nodes represent significant difference. (C) Spearman′s correlation analysis between F/G, ruminal fermentation, serum oxidative and inflammatory status, and ruminal microbiota by LefSE analysis of ruminal microbiota from genus level. Only genera with p ≤ 0.01 were concerned (* 0.01 < p ≤ 0.05, ** 0.001 < p ≤ 0.01).