Effects of compound Chinese herbal microecological preparations on growth performance, meat quality and rumen microflora of Simmental cattle

Introduction Growth promotion and immune regulation represent the core research focuses in beef cattle production. As a combined formulation, compound Chinese herbal-microecological preparations (CCHMP) integrate the merits of plant-derived additives and probiotics, exerting dual effects on growth enhancement and immune modulation. This experiment was conducted using Simmental cattle as the experimental animals to evaluate the effects of CCHMP on their growth performance, meat quality, serum biochemical indicators, and rumen microbial flora. Methods In this trial,two groups were set up, including a control group (fed with a basal diet) and an experimental group (fed with the basal diet supplemented with 1% CCHMP on a dry matter basis), with a feeding trial period of 120 days. Results The results demonstrated that compared with the control group, dry matter intake, average daily gain , crude fat digestibility, serum levels of immunoglobulin G, catalase, total antioxidant capacity, glutathione peroxidase and total protein, as well as the lightness of the longissimus dorsi muscle and the contents of aspartic acid, threonine, glutamic acid, alanine, valine, isoleucine, leucine, tyrosine, phenylalanine, lysine, arginine, proline and Total Amino Acids were significantly upregulated in the experimental group (P < 0.05). Serum total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, interleukin-6 and shear force of the longissimus dorsi muscle were extremely significantly decreased in the experimental group (P < 0.05). Additionally, serum immunoglobulin A, cooking loss rate of muscle and ruminal ammonia nitrogen concentration were significantly reduced in the experimental group (P < 0.05). At the genus level, the relative abundance of Xylanibacter was significantly enhanced (P < 0.05), while that of Rikenellaceae RC9 gut group was significantly decreased in the experimental group (P < 0.05). Discussion Dietary supplementation with 1% CCHMP on a dry matter basis effectively improves growth performance, optimizes muscle amino acid profiles, enhances meat quality and modulates rumen microbial composition in Simmental cattle. It also strengthens host health by regulating serum biochemical parameters, boosting antioxidant capacity and mediating immune function. This study reveals the CCHMP-mediated phylogenetic rearrangement of rumen microbiota and its association with the improvement of host phenotypes, providing new insights into understanding nutrition-microbe-host interactions.