ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Food Microbiology
Effects of Different Doses of Oregano Essential Oil on Growth Performance, Health Parameters, and the Gut Microbiome-Metabolome Profile in Heat-Stressed Pinan Cattle(Piedmontese × Nanyang)
Provisionally accepted
- Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou, China
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This study investigated the dose–response efficacy of dietary oregano essential oil (OEO) in mitigating severe heat stress (THI ≈ 86) in beef cattle. Thirty-six Pinan bulls were fed a basal diet alone (control) or supplemented with 7 (L-OEO) or 14 g/d (H-OEO) of OEO for 60 days. The low-dose OEO (7 g/d) significantly improved hepatic function, as indicated by reduced serum ALT and AST and increased ALB and TP. It also enhanced the immune (increased IgA, IgM) and antioxidant status (decreased MDA, increased SOD and CAT) while increased the ruminal abundance of Bacteroidota and Prevotella, showing a negative correlation with acyl-glycine metabolites. In contrast, the high dose (14 g/d) only increased GSH-Px and T4, resulting in higher MDA than L-OEO, and did not affect the rumen microbiota. It was concluded that supplementation with 7 g/d OEO optimally improved overall health and metabolic function in heat-stressed bulls, whereas a 14 g/d dose offered no additional benefits.
Keywords: Heat stress, Metabonomics, microbiota, Oregano essential oil, Pinan cattle(Piedmontese × Nanyang)
Received: 25 Sep 2025; Accepted: 09 Dec 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wa, LIU, SHENG and GAO. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Tengyun GAO
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