Dietary protein sources in concentrate supplementation influence growth performance by manipulating gut microbiota and serum metabolites in suckling Donkey foals
Compared to the milk-derived protein in concentrate supplementation for donkey foals, soybean meal protein improved the abundance of beneficial gut microbiota, further affected serum hormones and metabolites, and probably resulted in improved body weight and feed efficiency. This study provides a new approach to modulating gut bacteria to enhance growth performance in donkey foals.
Authors
- Boying Dong
- Guiguo Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0515-2172)
- Jie Yu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7887-7780)
- Li Han (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8389-6794)
- Cuihua Guo
- Huifang Zhou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3900-0756)
- Yipeng Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9099-4077)
- Chongyu Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2577-8690)
Institutions
- Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (CN)
- Ministry of Agriculture (ID)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Animal Microbiome
- Published
- 2025-08-26
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1186/s42523-025-00457-1
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Veterinary Equine Medical Research
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 2.73