Effect of pre-weaning glycyl-glutamine feeding on fecal microbiota in calves
Glycyl-glutamine is formed by the dehydration-condensation reaction of glycine and glutamine. Different studies have shown a positive effect of GQ on gut health and growth performance in early neonatal animals. Our goal was to investigate the effect of the supplemented with GQ via oral gavage on growth performance, stool score, diarrhea rate, serum antioxidant indices, inflammatory indicators, serum biochemical indicators and amino acid levels, hindgut fermentation, and microbial composition of hindgut in Holstein calves. Twenty-two neonatal Holstein calves were randomly divided into two groups . The control group was administered 50 mL phosphate-buffered saline by oral gavage on alternate days, and the GQ group was administered 50 mL PBS containing GQ at 0.01% of the body weight of calves as a dietary supplementation by oral gavage every other day.