ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Vet. Sci.
Sec. Animal Nutrition and Metabolism
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fvets.2025.1658189
The effects of neutral detergent fiber levels on the apparent nutrient digestibility, intestinal microbiota composition and function of forest musk deer
Provisionally accepted
- 1Sichuan Institute for Drug Control (Sichuan Medical Device Testing Center, Sichuan Institute of Musk Deer Breeding), Chengdu, China
- 2Chengdu Century Investment Co., Ltd., Sichuan Institute for Drug Control (Sichuan Medical Device Testing Center, Sichuan Institute of Musk Deer Breeding), Chengdu, China
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This experiment was conducted to explore the effects of different neutral detergent fiber (NDF) levels on nutrient apparent digestibility, intestinal microbial composition and function of adult male forest musk deer (Moschus berezovskii). A total of eighteen adult (aged 4-10 years) male forest musk deer (FMD) with an initial average body (weighing 7.09 ± 0.82 kg) were selected and randomly divided into tht three groups with different NDF levels L: 21.60%, M: 25.14% and H: 28.47%. The FMD were used in a 50-day trial. The results showed that the apparent digestibility of NDF and acid detergent fiber (ADF) first increased and then reduced with the increase in NDF levels, and M group was the highest (p < 0.05). H group exhibited significantly higher (p < 0.05) Chao1 and ACE indices compared to L group. Additionally, at the phylum level (the relative abundance > 0.5%), no significant differences were observed among the three groups except for Mycoplasmatota, which showed obviously higher (p < 0.05) relative abundance in M group compared to L group. At the genus level (the relative abundance > 1%), the three groups did not change (p > 0.05) significantly. In KEGG function analysis, the differentially expressed genes were primarily enriched in organismal systems and human disease pathway; In the CAZy functional analysis, the significant differences (p < 0.05) shown in glycoside hydrolases and carbohydrate-binding modules, and M group shown evident enrichment in fiber-degrading enzymes. Overall, M group demonstrated superior NDF apparent digestibility and enhanced fiber degradation capacity. Therefore, we recommend an optimal dietary NDF level of approximately 25% for adult male FMD.
Keywords: Forest musk deer, Neutral detergent fiber, Nutrient digestibility, Metagenome, Gut microflora
Received: 02 Jul 2025; Accepted: 13 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Dai, He, Wu, Zhou, Jiang and Chen. 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:
Qindan Dai, Sichuan Institute for Drug Control (Sichuan Medical Device Testing Center, Sichuan Institute of Musk Deer Breeding), Chengdu, China
Guimei Jiang, Sichuan Institute for Drug Control (Sichuan Medical Device Testing Center, Sichuan Institute of Musk Deer Breeding), Chengdu, China
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