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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Vet. Sci.
Sec. Animal Nutrition and Metabolism
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fvets.2025.1510617
This article is part of the Research Topic Threats and Strategies of Nutritional Metabolic Disorders and Poisoning Diseases in Ruminants View all 10 articles

Niacin alters ruminal microbial composition and metabolites in sheep fed a high-concentrate diet

Provisionally accepted
Zhiqiang Cheng Zhiqiang Cheng 1Jiancheng Liu Jiancheng Liu 1*Yingying Yu Yingying Yu 1*Wentao Liu Wentao Liu 2*Xiaobin Li Xiaobin Li 1*Fengming Li Fengming Li 1*Changjiang Zang Changjiang Zang 1*Kailun Yang Kailun Yang 1*
  • 1 Xinjiang Agricultural University, Ürümqi, China
  • 2 Xinjiang Urumqi Rural Revitalization Guidance Service Center, Urumqi, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    This study aimed to investigate the effects of niacin supplementation to a high-concentrate diet (ratio of concentrate supplement to forage = 70:30) on the growth performance, rumen fermentation, rumen microbiota, and metabolomics of sheep. Twelve sheep were randomly divided into two groups: (1) a control group (CON, n=6) fed a basal diet and (2) a niacin group (NA, n=6) fed a basal diet supplemented with 130 mg/d niacin for 35 d: days 1-14 were the adaptation period, days 15-35 were the experiment period. On days 15 and 35 of the experiment period, all trial sheep were weighed before the morning feed (07:30 am). Ruminal fluid samples were collected from all trial sheep on days 34 and 35. The results showed that 1) The dry matter feed intake of the NA group was higher than that of the CON group (p < 0.05). 2) The ruminal pH of the NA was significantly higher than that of the CON group at 3, 5, and 7 h after feeding (p < 0.01). The concentrations of NH3-N (p <0.01), propionate (p <0.01), and butyrate (p <0.05) in the NA group were significantly higher than those in the CON group. 3) Compared to the CON group, the ruminal pyruvate content in the NA group was significantly increased at 0 h before feeding (p < 0.05), and lactic acid (p < 0.05) was significantly decreased at 1 and 3 h after feeding, lactate dehydrogenase activities was significantly decreased (p < 0.01) at 3 and 5 h after feeding. 4) The number of specific operational taxonomic units (OTUs) in the CON and NA groups were 26 and 37, respectively, for a total of 1178 OTUs; principal coordinate analysis (R2 = 0.172, p-value = 0.007) and non-metric multidimensional scaling (Stress = 0.1646) results showed that the two groups of samples were significantly separated. In summary, supplementing niacin to high-concentrate diets can significantly improve the growth performance of sheep, improve rumen fermentation and the rumen microbial community structure, and affect rumen metabolites, thus alleviating the symptoms of rumen acidosis.

    Keywords: growth performance, Rumen fermentation, Rumen microbial community, Metabolism, Niacin, Sheep

    Received: 13 Oct 2024; Accepted: 06 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Cheng, Liu, Yu, Liu, Li, Li, Zang and Yang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Jiancheng Liu, Xinjiang Agricultural University, Ürümqi, China
    Yingying Yu, Xinjiang Agricultural University, Ürümqi, China
    Wentao Liu, Xinjiang Urumqi Rural Revitalization Guidance Service Center, Urumqi, China
    Xiaobin Li, Xinjiang Agricultural University, Ürümqi, China
    Fengming Li, Xinjiang Agricultural University, Ürümqi, China
    Changjiang Zang, Xinjiang Agricultural University, Ürümqi, China
    Kailun Yang, Xinjiang Agricultural University, Ürümqi, China

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