Effects of Dietary Energy Level on Antioxidant Capability, Immune Function and Rectal Microbiota in Late Gestation Donkeys

Introduction: This study investigated the effects of dietary energy level on the antioxidant capability, immune function, and rectal microbiota in donkey jennets during the last 60 days of gestation.

Methods: Fifteen pregnant DeZhou donkeys with age of 6.0 ± 0.1 years, body weight of 292 ± 33 kg, parity of 2.7 ± 0.1 parities and similar expected date of confinement (74 ± 4 days) were randomly allocated to three groups and feed three diets: high energy (10.92 MJ/kg, H), medium energy (10.49 MJ/kg, M), and low energy (9.94 MJ/kg, L).

Results And Discussion: The serum activity of catalase (CAT), total superoxide dismutase (T-SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), and total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC) in group M was significantly higher, whereas the concentrations of malondialdehyde (MDA), interleukin 1 (IL-1), IL-2, and IL-6 were lower than those recorded for groups H and L ( ≤ 0.05). The dietary energy level significantly affected rectal microbial community structure in the jennet donkeys 35 days and 7 days before the parturition ( ≤ 0.05). The abundances of genus was significantly higher ( ≤ 0.05) in group H, and the abundances of and the were higher in group L ( ≤ 0.05). The abundance of Fibrobacter in group M was significantly increased ( ≤ 0.05). The abundance of was positively correlated with average daily gain (ADG) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) concentrations ( ≤ 0.05). The abundance of was positively correlated with IL-2 and IL-6 concentrations. The abundance of was positively correlated with CAT, T-SOD and GSH-Px activities ( ≤ 0.05). The abundance of Fibrobacter was positively correlated with CAT and T-SOD activities ( ≤ 0.05), but negatively correlated with IL-2 concentration ( ≤ 0.05). In conclusion, an appropriate dietary with an energy content of 10.49 MJ/kg for jennet donkeys during late gestation increased the prenatal antioxidant capacity, reduced inflammatory cytokines, and promoted fetal growth, and these changes were related to diet-induced changes in rectal microbiota compositions.