ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Vet. Sci.
Sec. Animal Nutrition and Metabolism
This article is part of the Research TopicInnovative Nutritional Technologies for Sustainable Ruminant FarmingView all 15 articles
Effects of Euphorbia humifusa Extract on Growth Performance and Serum biomarkers in preweaned Calves
Provisionally accepted
- 1Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), Beijing, China
- 2Henan University of Science and Technology, Luoyang, Henan Province, China
- 3Tarim University, Aral, Xinjiang Uyghur Region, China
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The juvenile period represents a critical rearing phase in animals, during which rearing quality directly impacts adult productive performance. Plant extracts have been used as feed additives to promote growth, inhibit bacteria, enhance immunity, improve animal health, and ensure the safety of animal products. Therefore, Our study aimed to investigate the effects of Euphorbia humifusa extract (EHE) on growth performance, serum biomarkers and antioxidant mechanisms in preweaning calves. Forty-eight newborn calves were randomly allocated to four groups (12 calves/group) and fed milk replacer supplemented with 0 mg (control, CON), 400 mg (Group A), 800 mg (Group B), or 1,200 mg (Group C) of EHE. Body weight and serum biomarkers were measured on d 30 and 60. Network pharmacology was employed to identify EHE-related antioxidant targets, followed by Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analyses. Calves in group C exhibited significantly higher average daily gain (ADG) compared with CON during d 30-60. Both dry matter intake (DMI) and ADG across treatment groups demonstrated a dose-dependent increase. Serum growth hormone (GH) shows the same trend as daily weight gain and feed intake. Serum analysis revealed that superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity in group C was significantly elevated versus CON, Network pharmacology identified 150 potential antioxidant targets of EHE, primarily enriched in pathways associated with cancer, hepatic injury, apoptosis, and viral infection, suggesting immune-modulatory effects. Based on these findings, it can be inferred that supplementing milk replacer with EHE enhances calf growth performance, Regulating oxidative stress, and it regulates signaling pathways related to immune response and apoptosis through interactions with key targets such as IL6, TP53, MAPK1, AKT1, TNF, BCL2, and ESR1.
Keywords: antioxidant, Calves growth, Euphorbia humifusa extract, milk replacer, Network Pharmacology, Plant extract
Received: 20 May 2025; Accepted: 03 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhang, Xing, Xu, Tu and Diao. 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: Qi Yu Diao, diaoqiyu@caas.cn
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