Effect of feeding hydroponic barley seedlings to lactating ewes on blood biochemical indexes and growth performance of lambs

Yan Ma; Tongjun Guo; Zhijun Zhang; Guzalnur Amat; Yaxing Jing; Yong Tuo; Liangzhong Hou

doi:10.3389/fvets.2023.1280544

Effect of feeding hydroponic barley seedlings to lactating ewes on blood biochemical indexes and growth performance of lambs

Front Vet Sci. 2024 Jan 5:10:1280544. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2023.1280544. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Yan Ma¹, Tongjun Guo^{1

2}, Zhijun Zhang^{1

2}, Guzalnur Amat^{1

2}, Yaxing Jing¹, Yong Tuo¹, Liangzhong Hou¹

Affiliations

¹ Feed Research Institute, Xinjiang Academy of Animal Sciences, Urumqi, China.
² Key Laboratory of Xinjiang Feed Biotechnology, Urumqi, China.

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of replacing different ratios of basal diets with hydroponically barley seedlings (HBS) on the serum biochemical indexes and growth performance of lambs. It provides a theoretical basis for the use of HBS in ruminant health and scientific feeding management. In total, 30 ewes were randomly categorized into six groups (two control groups, 4 treatment groups, and 8 replicates in each group). All experiments were conducted under the same feeding and management conditions, on this basis the control group was CK1 and CK2 groups, which CK1 group added 15% corn silage, the treatment groups replacing 5% (group A), 10% (group B), 15% (group C) and 20% (group D) of the basal diet (dry matter basis) with HBS, and the experimental period lasted for 36 days, and the lambs were lactating with their mothers throughout the experimental period. Key results. The contents of total protein (TP), albumin (ALB), milk fat percentage and total solids (TS) in group C were significantly higher than CK1 and CK2 groups (p < 0.05) in milk samples; malondialdehyde (MDA) content in groups A and C was significantly lower than groups CK1 and CK2 (p < 0.05), alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and azelaic transaminase (AST) contents in groups A and B were significantly higher than CK1 group (p < 0.05), TC content in groups A and D was significantly higher than CK1 and CK2 groups (p < 0.05), high-density lipoprotein (HDL-c) content in group D was significantly higher than CK1 and CK2 groups (p < 0.01) in blood samples; Body height in C group was significantly higher than CK2 group (p < 0.05), ear width in group B was significantly higher than CK1 group (p < 0.05). In conclusion, under the conditions of this experiment, HBS instead of 5-15% of the basal diet could improve the milk quality of lactating Hu ewes and alleviate the oxidative stress of the body.

Keywords: antioxidants; hydroponic barley seedlings; lactating Hu ewes; lambs; milk quality.

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This work was supported by the High Quality Forage Industry Technology System of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (YZSCTX2023-SLS) and the Central Government of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Guides Local Science and Technology Development funds (ZYYD2023C04).