Dietary perennial ryegrass improves meat quality: insights into the gut-muscle axis in geese

The gut-muscle axis represents a key regulatory pathway linking intestinal microbiota to muscle development and meat quality, yet its mechanistic basis in geese remains unclear. This study investigated how dietary perennial ryegrass modulates meat quality through microbiota reshaping and AMPK/Akt-mTOR signaling. Geese were fed a commercial diet (CD) or a ryegrass feeding (GD) for 30 days. GD markedly improved breast muscle morphology, increasing fiber density and reducing cross-sectional area, while enhancing meat color, texture, protein conformation, and reducing cooking loss and shear force. Amino acid and fatty acid enrichment, together with elevated antioxidant activity in serum, ileum and muscle, further supported quality improvement. 16S rRNA sequencing revealed increased Bacteroides, Akkermansia, Faecalibacterium, and Butyricicoccus abundances and higher short-chain fatty acid levels. Western blot and immunofluorescence confirmed AMPK activation and Akt-mTOR inhibition. These findings identify perennial ryegrass as a functional dietary strategy to enhance geese meat quality via gut-muscle metabolic crosstalk.