Mixed native forages promote antioxidant status and healthy lipid metabolism in goats by significantly increasing their intake of plant secondary metabolites, as revealed by metabolomics

Feed diversity may lead to improvements in animal productivity and physiological health. However, the exact metabolic regulation achieved by feeding animals diverse native forages has not been clarified. Thus, by performing untargeted metabolomics, we investigated feed intake, metabolism and oxidative stress in animals after the consumption of diverse native forages. Twelve crossbred Shiba × Saanen goats were divided into groups on the basis of a completely randomized design with six replicates for each treatment. The treatments included a mixture of native forage hay varieties (mainly composed of Miscanthus sinensis and Pleioblastus sp . ; NAT) and sudangrass hay (SDN). The digestibility of crude protein and organic matter in the NAT group was greater ( P < 0.01) than that in the SDN group. The ruminal short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) content was greater in the NAT group (39.12 mM) ( P = 0.04) than in the SDN group (34.00 mM). The quercetin concentration was greater in the ruminal fluid of animals fed NAT ( P = 0.04) than in that of animals fed SDN. Furthermore, the total cholesterol, blood urea nitrogen, and NH 3 levels in the serum of the NAT group were greater ( P < 0.05) than those in the serum of the SDN group. Moreover, the levels of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and the levels of linolenic, oleic, and docosahexaenoic acid were greater ( P < 0.05) in the NAT group than in the SDN group. In conclusion, increased ruminal digestion and improvements in the antioxidant status and lipid metabolism were observed in goats fed diverse native forage hay varieties compared with goats fed SDN. • Diverse native forages potentially alternate high-quality single forage. • Feeding diverse native forages increased ruminal fermentation. • Untargeted metabolomics reveals affected metabolism. • Higher short-chain fatty acid production increased healthy lipid metabolism. • Utilization of native forage improves livestock production sustainability.