The ileal microbiome and mucosal immune profiles in response to dietary supplementation of ultra-grinded Astragalus membranaceus in weaned goats

Guowang Luo; Kefyalew Gebeyew; Chuanshe Zhou; Zhiliang Tan; Wenzhu Yang; Dongyan Niu; Tao Ran; Yong Liu

doi:10.3389/fmicb.2023.1309520

The ileal microbiome and mucosal immune profiles in response to dietary supplementation of ultra-grinded Astragalus membranaceus in weaned goats

Front Microbiol. 2023 Dec 21:14:1309520. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1309520. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Guowang Luo^{1

2}, Kefyalew Gebeyew^{2

3}, Chuanshe Zhou^{2

3}, Zhiliang Tan^{2

3}, Wenzhu Yang⁴, Dongyan Niu⁵, Tao Ran¹, Yong Liu^{2

3}

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-ecosystems, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, College of Pastoral Agriculture Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu, China.
² CAS Key Laboratory for Agro-Ecological Processes in Subtropical Region, National Engineering Laboratory for Pollution Control and Waste Utilization in Livestock and Poultry Production, and Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Animal Nutritional Physiology and Metabolic Process, Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changsha, Hunan, China.
³ University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
⁴ Lethbridge Research and Development Centre, Lethbridge, AB, Canada.
⁵ Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada.

Abstract

Weaning goats are susceptible to diarrhea and have weakened immune functions due to physiological, dietary and environmental stresses. Astragalus membranaceus (A. membranaceus), a traditional Chinese medicinal herb, has been shown to improve growth performance and immunity in weaned ruminants. However, the influence mechanism of A. membranaceus on intestinal microbiota and mucosal immunity in weaned goats is still unknown. This study investigated the effects of ultra-grinded A. membranaceus (UGAM) on the immune function and microbial community in the ileum of weaned goats. Eighteen healthy weaned Xiangdong black goats (BW, 5.30 ± 1.388 kg) were used in a study of completely randomized block design with 28 days long. The animals were randomly assigned to either a basal diet supplemented with 10 g/d of milk replacer (CON, n = 9) or the CON diet supplemented with 10 g/head UGAM (UGAM, n = 9). Supplementation of UGAM increased (p < 0.05) the plasma concentrations of total protein and albumin. Meanwhile, the addition of UGAM reduced (p < 0.05) the relative mRNA expression of the IL-6 gene (a marker of inflammation), indicating the potential immunomodulatory effect of UGAM. Moreover, the relative abundances of Verrucomicrobiota and Mycoplasma were lower (p < 0.05) in the ileum of goats supplemented with UGAM than CON. These findings suggest that dietary supplementation of UGAM may have enhanced the ileum health of weaned goats by reducing inflammation factor expression and reducing the relative abundance of pathogenic microbes. The observed beneficial effects of ultra-grinded A. membranaceus on ileal mucosal immune and the community of ileal microbiota indicate its potential to be used as a viable option for promoting the well-being of weaned goats under weaning stress.

Keywords: dietary supplementation; ileal mucosal immune; microbial community; ultragrinded Astragalus membranaceus; weaned goats.

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. The present work was supported by National Key Research and Development Program of China (2022YFD1300905), National Natural Science Foundation of China (32372828), Guangxi Natural Science Foundation (2022GXNSFAA035517), Hunan Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (2023JJ30613), “Double First Class” Special Guidance Project, Team Building Funds, Research Startup Funds of Lanzhou University (508000-561120213), and Highend Foreign Experts Recruitment Plan (G2023175005L).