title: Effect of dietary supplementation with resveratrol on nutrient digestibility, methanogenesis and ruminal microbial flora in sheep.
abstract: Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the effect of resveratrol on methanogenesis and microbial flora in Dorper × thin-tailed Han cross-bred ewes. In experiment 1, ten ewes (67.2 ± 2.24 kg BW) were assigned to two dietary treatments, a basal diet and a basal diet supplemented with resveratrol (0.25 g/head·day), to investigate the effect of resveratrol on nutrient digestibility and nitrogen balance. In experiment 2, six ewes (64.0 ± 1.85 kg BW) with ruminal cannulae were assigned to the identical dietary treatments used in experiment 1 to investigate supplementary resveratrol on ruminal fermentation and microbial flora using qPCR. The results showed that supplementary resveratrol improved the digestibility of organic matter (OM; p < 0.001), nitrogen (N; p = 0.007), neutral detergent fibre (NDF; p < 0.001) and acid detergent fibre (ADF; p < 0.001). The excretion of faecal N was reduced (p = 0.007), whereas that of urinary N increased (p = 0.002), which led to an unchanged N retention (p = 0.157). Both CO2 and CH4 output scaled to digestible dry matter (DM) intake decreased from 602.5 to 518.7 (p = 0.039) and 68.2 to 56.6 (p < 0.001) respectively. Ruminal pH (p = 0.341), ammonia (p = 0.512) and total volatile fatty acid (VFA) (p = 0.249) were unaffected by resveratrol. The molar proportion of propionate increased from 13.1 to 17.5% (p < 0.001) while that of butyrate decreased from 11.0 to 9.55% (p < 0.001). The ratio of acetate to propionate (A/P) decreased from 5.44 to 3.96 (p < 0.001). Supplementary resveratrol increased ruminal population of Fibrobacter succinogenes, Ruminococcus albus and Butyrivibrio fibrisolvens (p < 0.001) while decreased protozoa and methanogens. In conclusion, dietary resveratrol inhibited methanogenesis without adversely affecting ruminal fermentation.
authors.affiliation: Feed Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Key Laboratory of Feed Biotechnology of the Ministry of Agriculture, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Feed Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Key Laboratory of Feed Biotechnology of the Ministry of Agriculture, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: D-D
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Feed Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Key Laboratory of Feed Biotechnology of the Ministry of Agriculture, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tu
authors.affiliation: Feed Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Key Laboratory of Feed Biotechnology of the Ministry of Agriculture, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: N-F
authors.initials: NF
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Feed Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Key Laboratory of Feed Biotechnology of the Ministry of Agriculture, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: B-W
authors.initials: BW
authors.lastname: Si
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Science, Jinling Institute of Technology, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China.
authors.forename: K-D
authors.initials: KD
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.affiliation: Feed Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Key Laboratory of Feed Biotechnology of the Ministry of Agriculture, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Q-Y
authors.initials: QY
authors.lastname: Diao
mesh_terms: D000821:Animal Feed / Q000032:analysis; D000824:Animal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D000818:Animals; D004032:Diet / Q000662:veterinary; D019587:Dietary Supplements; D004063:Digestion / Q000187:drug effects*; D005260:Female; D008697:Methane / Q000378:metabolism*; D000077185:Resveratrol; D012417:Rumen / Q000187:drug effects / Q000382:microbiology*; D012756:Sheep; D013267:Stilbenes / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D013267:Stilbenes; D008697:Methane; D000077185:Resveratrol
keywords: CH4; polyphenol; resveratrol; sheep; stilbenes