State Key Laboratory of Reproductive Regulation and Breeding of Grassland Livestock, School of Life Sciences, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot 020020, China.
Hebei Provincial Key Laboratory of Basic Medicine for Diabetes, The Shijiazhuang Second Hospital, Shijiazhuang 050051, China.
Animal. 2022 Apr;16(4):100503. doi: 10.1016/j.animal.2022.100503. Epub 2022 Apr 1.
Mutton is one of the most widely consumed meats globally. The Chinese Mongolian sheep (MS) breed is an indigenous breed of sheep characterised by high-quality meat and strong adaptability. Dorper × Chinese Mongolian crossbred sheep (DS) is an improved breed with a rapid growth rate and high mutton yield found in parts of China. The rumen microbiota is known to play a key role in shaping host nutrition and health. However, the carcass traits and meat nutritional qualities of DS and MS remain poorly defined, as does how rumen microbes affect these characteristics. The objective of this study was to compare carcass profiles, rumen bacterial communities, and meat nutritional qualities between MS and DS and clarify the associations between rumen microbiota and meat nutritional composition. We found that DS had a faster growth rate and better carcass traits than MS, including BW, carcass weight, meat weight, and loin-eye area. We further found that metabolite and rumen bacterial community composition differed between the two sheep breeds. First, compared with MS, DS had lower contents of some sweet amino acids, monounsaturated fatty acids, n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, and beneficial metabolites. Secondly, MS and DS had distinct rumen bacterial compositions, and these differential bacteria were related to carcass traits as well as to contents of meat amino acids, free fatty acids, and other metabolites. Taken together, our data showed that DS had better carcass characteristics but lower meat nutritional quality, parameters that were associated with differences in rumen bacterial community composition. These findings may benefit future breeding strategies aimed at improving sheep carcass performance and meat quality worldwide.
羊肉是全球消费最广泛的肉类之一。中国蒙古绵羊（MS）是一种具有优质肉质和强适应性的本土绵羊品种。杜泊羊×中国蒙古绵羊杂交羊（DS）是一种在中国部分地区发现的生长速度快、羊肉产量高的改良品种。瘤胃微生物群被认为在塑造宿主营养和健康方面起着关键作用。然而，DS 和 MS 的胴体特征和肉质营养品质以及瘤胃微生物如何影响这些特征仍未得到充分定义。本研究旨在比较 MS 和 DS 的胴体特征、瘤胃细菌群落和肉质营养品质，并阐明瘤胃微生物群与肉质营养成分之间的关联。我们发现 DS 的生长速度比 MS 快，胴体特征更好，包括 BW、胴体重、肉重和腰眼面积。我们还发现，两种绵羊的代谢物和瘤胃细菌群落组成存在差异。首先，与 MS 相比，DS 含有较低的一些甜味氨基酸、单不饱和脂肪酸、n-3 多不饱和脂肪酸和有益代谢物。其次，MS 和 DS 具有不同的瘤胃细菌组成，这些差异细菌与胴体特征以及肉氨基酸、游离脂肪酸和其他代谢物的含量有关。总之，我们的数据表明，DS 具有更好的胴体特征，但肉质营养品质较低，这些参数与瘤胃细菌群落组成的差异有关。这些发现可能有助于未来的全球绵羊养殖策略，旨在提高绵羊的胴体性能和肉质质量。
