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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Vet. Sci.
Sec. Animal Nutrition and Metabolism
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fvets.2025.1528861
This article is part of the Research Topic Crosslinking of feed nutrients, microbiome and production in ruminants View all 16 articles

Dietary guanidinoacetic acid supplementation improves rumen metabolism, duodenal nutrient flux, and growth performance in lambs

Provisionally accepted
Kailun Yang Kailun Yang *Shiqi Zhang Shiqi Zhang Mireguli Yimamu Mireguli Yimamu Chen Ma Chen Ma Jun Pan Jun Pan Xiao Bin Li Xiao Bin Li Wenjie Cai Wenjie Cai
  • Xinjiang Agricultural University, Ürümqi, China

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

    Guanidinoacetic acid (GAA) is the only precursor of creatine, which is an important energy source for growth and metabolism. The degradation of guanidinoacetic acid in rumen plays a decisive role in its application in ruminant diet. Two experiments were conducted to investigate the rumen GAA escape rate and its effects on metabolism, blood metabolites and growth performance of Kazakh male lambs. In the first part of the experiment, 24 Kazakh male lambs equipped with rumen and duodenal fistulas were selected to determine the rumen escape rate of guanidylacetic acid. In the second part, 24 healthy Kazakh male lambs were selected to determine the growth performance. They were divided into 4 groups and fed a basal diet supplemented with 0,500,1000,1500 mg/kg GAA, respectively. The results show that ruminal escape rates of 36%-56% were achieved in lambs with dietary GAA supplementation at 500-1,500 mg/kg DM. Dietary 1,500 mg/kg DM GAA increased levels of creatine, IGF-I and insulin, and promoted lamb growth.

    Keywords: Lambs, Guanidinoacetic acid, Creatine, Rumen metabolism, ruminal escape rate, small

    Received: 15 Nov 2024; Accepted: 22 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Yang, Zhang, Yimamu, Ma, Pan, Li and Cai. 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: Kailun Yang, Xinjiang Agricultural University, Ürümqi, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.