Guoxiu Wang, Qian Zhang, Zhanyu Chen, Yongliang Huang, Weimin Wang, Xiaoxue Zhang, Jiale Jia, Qihao Gao, Haoyu Xu, Chong Li
Although early feeding strategies influence intestinal development, the effects of milk replacer (MR) feeding level on intestinal structure and functional development and underlying regulatory mechanisms remain unclear. In this study, 14 male Hu lambs were fed MR at 2% or 4% of their average body weight and weaned at 35 days of age. The MR was produced by the Institute of Feed Research of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and it contains 96.91% dry matter, 23.22% protein, and 13.20% fat. Jejunal tissues were assessed by RNA-seq for differences in the gene expression of lambs at 49 days of age; regulatory pathways and mechanisms of the effects of early nutrition on intestinal function and development were analyzed, along with growth performance, feed intake, jejunal histomorphology, and digestive enzyme activities...
May 24, 2023: Animals: An Open Access Journal From MDPI