ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Microorganisms in Vertebrate Digestive Systems
This article is part of the Research TopicMicrobial Degradation of Agricultural WasteView all 5 articles
Effects of a Fermented Cotton Straw-Apple Pomace Mixture on Growth Performance, Rumen Microbial Community, and Metabolome in Beef Cattle
Provisionally accepted
Qikai Liu
Ruohui LiBao WangShihong MiChengcheng WangNing ZhangXiaoping Chen
Shuaibin Zhou
Tengyu WangXinyi WangXinweng Sun
DK Hua*
Xinfeng Wang*- Shihezi University College, Shihezi, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
The utilization of agricultural by-products as feed plays a significant role in reducing resource waste and promoting sustainable development of the livestock industry. This study investigated the effects of replacing corn silage with the fermented cotton straw-apple pomace mixture on growth performance, rumen fermentation profile, fibrolytic enzyme activities, microbial community structure, and metabolite profiles in beef cattle. Twenty beef cattle were randomly assigned to two groups: a control (CON) group fed a basal diet and a treatment (TRE) group fed a diet in which corn silage was replaced by the fermented mixture. Compared to the CON group, the TRE group showed reductions in average daily gain (ADG) and dry matter intake (DMI) by 25.42% and 18.79%, respectively (P < 0.05). The concentrations of ruminal volatile fatty acids (VFAs) were also significantly lower (ranging from 9.63% to 17.01% reduction; P < 0.05). The activities of cellulase, hemicellulase, and cellobiohydrolase were significantly decreased in the TRE group (by 13.22%, 38.80%, and 13.66%, respectively; P < 0.05). The fermented mixture also altered the rumen microbial composition: the relative abundances of Anaeroplasma and Pyramidobacter were higher in the TRE group, whereas those of Anseongella, Holdemania, and Acetoanaerobium were lower. Non-targeted metabolomics analysis revealed significant changes in the rumen metabolite profile of cattle fed the fermented mixture; notably, ferulic acid concentrations were significantly higher in the TRE group than in the CON group. Spearman correlation analysis indicated that Anseongella was significantly positively correlated with ADG, while Pyramidobacter was significantly negatively correlated with ADG and with the activities of cellulase, hemicellulase, cellobiohydrolase. Anaeroplasma was negatively correlated with those enzyme activities and was also significantly associated with ferulic acid and many other differential metabolites. In conclusion, replacing corn silage with the fermented cotton straw-apple pomace mixture reduced ADG, VFA concentrations, and ruminal fibrolytic enzyme activities in beef cattle; these effects may be related to changes in specific rumen bacteria and metabolites.
Keywords: apple pomace, Cotton straw, enzyme activity, Metabolome, Microbial Fermentation, rumen microbiota
Received: 18 Nov 2025; Accepted: 08 Dec 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Liu, Li, Wang, Mi, Wang, Zhang, Chen, Zhou, Wang, Wang, Sun, Hua and Wang. 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:
DK Hua
Xinfeng Wang
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.