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Effects of body brushing on intestinal microbiota structure, serum metabolism and antioxidant capacity in Bohai Black cattle
Received date: 2026-02-11
Online published: 2026-07-06
Objective This study aimsed to explorinvestigate the effects of body brushing on the intestinal flormicrobiota structure, serum metabolic characteristics, and antioxidant capacity ofin Bohai Black cattle, so as to provide a theoretical basis for the application and improvement of welfare tools in Bohai Black cattle breeding. Method Eighteen 12-month-old healthy male Bohai Black cattle with an average body weight of (195 ± 6.73) kg were randomly divided into a control group (C2) and a body brushing group (N2), with 9 cattle per group, and the experimental period lasted 180 days. At the end of the trial, fecal samples were collected for 16S rRNA gene sequencing, and jugular blood samples were harvested to separate serum for untargeted metabolomic sequencing and determination of antioxidant indices. Result Compared with the control group, the Shannon index and Simpson index of intestinal microbiota in the body brushing group were significantly higher (P < 0.05), while the number of observed species and Chao1 index tended to be higher. NMDS analysis revealed significant differences in microbial community structure between the two groups (P < 0.05). Orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) showed distinct separation of serum metabolites between the two groups. A total of 180 upregulated and 43 downregulated differential metabolites were identified, mainly including amino acid derivatives and fatty acid derivatives. Key metabolic pathways such as arginine biosynthesis and tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle were significantly enriched (P < 0.05). Body brushing significantly increased the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC), and catalase (CAT), and decreased malondialdehyde (MDA) content (P > 0.05). Correlation analysis indicated that the core metabolites ornithine and citrulline were specifically associated with the core intestinal genera g_5-7N15 and g_Prevotella. Conclusion In summary, body brushing can improve the abundance and structure of intestinal microbiota in Bohai Black cattle, regulate arginine biosynthesis and the TCA cycle pathway, enhance blood antioxidant enzyme activities, and thereby significantly improve the antioxidant capacity of Bohai Black cattle.
Zhuangbing Li , Lei Yang , Weiwei Lei , Xianguang Ren , Zhonggong Wang , Yongjun Cai , Wei Chen , Xifeng Zhang . Effects of body brushing on intestinal microbiota structure, serum metabolism and antioxidant capacity in Bohai Black cattle[J]. The Chinese Livestock and Poultry Breeding, 2026 , 22(6) : 60 -71 . DOI: 10.19543/j.cnki.1673-4556.20260602.005
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