Whole-Plant Rape Silage-Based Diets for Chongming White Goats: An Integrated Assessment of Growth Performance, Meat Quality and Gut Microbiota

Forage rape (<i>Brassica napus</i> L.) is increasingly becoming a valued forage choice in livestock production. However, research on the application of whole-plant rape silage (including pod shells) in goats remains limited. To evaluate the effects of whole-plant rape silage on goat growth performance, meat quality, antioxidant capacity, and intestinal health, a 90-day feeding trial was performed using 36 healthy 6-month-old Chongming white goats. The goats were fed ad libitum and divided into two groups: a control group (CON, <i>n</i> = 18) fed corn straw silage and a treatment group (TRT, <i>n</i> = 18) fed a diet containing a 1:1 mixture of whole-plant rape silage and corn straw silage. Results showed that a 50% substitution with whole-plant rape silage increased carcass weight (<i>p</i> = 0.005), enhanced total antioxidant capacity (<i>p</i> < 0.01) in plasma, reduced bitter amino acids (such as leucine, isoleucine and phenylalanine; <i>p</i> < 0.05) in muscle, promoted intestinal villi proliferation (<i>p</i> < 0.05), and increased the abundance of beneficial bacteria involved in carbohydrate metabolism (e.g., <i>Family</i>_<i>XIII</i>_<i>AD3011</i>_group; <i>p</i> = 0.028) and propionic acid metabolism (e.g., <i>Phascolarctobacterium</i>; <i>p</i> = 0.026). In conclusion, our findings demonstrated that whole-plant rape silage can serve as a viable alternative to corn straw silage for Chongming white goats.