Effects of maternal and post-weaned rumen-protected folic acid supplementation on slaughter performance and meat quality in offspring lambs

Abstract

The present study was undertaken to evaluate the influence of rumen-protected folic acid (RPFA) on slaughter performance, visceral organ and gastrointestinal tract coefficients, and meat quality in lambs. Sixty-six lambs from 120 Hu ewes were selected based on body weight and maternal diets and then assigned to six groups using a randomised block experimental design in a 3 × 2 factorial arrangement. The first factor was folic acid (FA) as RPFA in the maternal diet (0 mg/kg (M0F), 16 mg/kg (M16F) or 32 mg/kg (M32F) on DM basis). The second factor was FA in the lambs’ diet from weaning until slaughter (0 mg/kg (OC) or 4·0 mg/kg (OF)). The results indicated that the addition of 16 mg/kg FA to the maternal diet increased pre-slaughter weight (PSW), dressing and meat percentage, the reticulum and omasum coefficients, length of the jejunum and ileum, tail fat and perirenal fat coefficient and a* value of the meat colour. The addition of RPFA to the lambs’ diet increased PSW, dressing and meat percentage, eye muscle area, abomasum weight, weight and length of the small intestine, but reduced the coefficients of tail fat. An M × O interaction was observed for the weights of heart, lungs, rumen and total stomach, weight and coefficient of omental fat and the girth rib value. Collectively, RPFA in the maternal and lambs’ diet improved slaughter performance and meat quality by stimulating the morphological development of the gastrointestinal tract and the distribution of fat in the body.

Integrative network analysis revealed the molecular function of folic acid on immunological enhancement in a sheep model

“…UCP3 gene was an important candidate gene for regulating intramuscular fat content in chicken breast muscle (46). We did find the changed lipid metabolism by decreasing serum cholesterol parameters and increasing fat deposition in tail or omentum from our previous studies (5,6). Two enriched metabolic pathways, biosynthesis of unsaturated fatty acids and linoleic acid metabolism, were down-regulated by feeding FA from the maternal diet solely and maternal and offspring diet together, indicating the crucial roles of FA on lipid metabolism.…”

“…The feeding experiment of the weaned lambs lasted for 130 d and included a 10-d adaptation period followed by a 120-d collection period. The detailed procedures for the ewes and lambs raising were shown in our published studies (5,6). Six lambs from each group were selected randomly for slaughtering.…”

“…Six lambs from each group were selected randomly for slaughtering. Due to the significant beneficial roles of M0F (only offspring received 4 mg FA), M16C (only ewe received 16 mg FA), M16F (ewe received 16 mg FA and offspring received 4 mg FA) on animal growth and health properties from our previous studies (5,6), we selected these three groups and M0C (no FA received) for further multi-omics analysis. Three comparisons among the four groups (M0C vs. M0F, M0C vs. M16C, M0C vs. M16F) were conducted in the current study to reveal the specific function of FA in lambs.…”

“…Our previous studies showed that FA improved animal growth and meat quality (5,6); in the meantime, it had significant effects on animal health-related characteristics in sheep, such as serum high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and very low-density lipoprotein (5) and serum immune globulins (8). FA supplementation could affect proliferation and apoptosis in bovine mammary epithelial cells by increasing the ratio of Bcl-2/ Bax protein levels (15).…”

“…However, dietary supplements of FA higher than 0.5 mg/kg body weight improved animal performance and feed efficiency with increased serum folate concentrations and milk folate concentrations in most studies of ruminants (3,4). We recently found that the supplementation of rumen-protected FA in the maternal and/or lamb diets could increase the growth performance of lambs (5) and improve slaughter performance and meat quality (6).…”