Effects of milk replacer on rumen fermentation and plasma biochemical indices of adult Qianbeima goats

This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of milk replacer on rumen fermentation and plasma biochemical indices of Qianbeima adult goats based on our previous study revealing that milk replacer can improve growth performance of Qianbeima lambs. Six healthy goats were assigned to 33 Latin square design according to their age and body weight: control, treatment 1, and treatment 2. The goats in control were fed basal diet, while treatment 1 and treatment 2 were supplemented with 2.5%, 5% milk replacer, respectively. Experimental last 45 days including 3 phases with 14-day adaptation and 1-day sampling duration for each phase. The results showed that: 1) Feeding of nutritional fortifier had no significant difference (P0.05) for ruminal pH and MCP levels. The NH3-N concentration was found to be the lowest in treatment 1, which was significantly decreased than control (P0.05). 2) Ruminal activities of microcrystalline cellulose, cellobiase, and xylanase were unaffected for 3 treatments (P0.05), however, carboxymethyl cellulose level for treatment 1 and treatment 2 was significantly higher than control (P0.05). 3) Ruminal levels of acetic acid, propionate, butyrate, and total volatile fatty acid (TVFA) in treatment 1 and 2 were higher than control (P0.05); while A/P was decreased (P0.05). 4) Treatment 2 had a decreased (P0.05) plasma Glu level than treatment 1 and a decreased TG level than control. The other plasma metabolites (UN, TP, Alb, TC, and Cr) were unaltered by nutritional fortifier addition (P0.05). It was suggested that milk replacer could improve rumen fermentation parameters, cellulose activity, VFA levels, and some plasma metabolites for goats. Overall, addition of 5% level milk replacer was recommended in the practice.