ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Vet. Sci.
Sec. Animal Nutrition and Metabolism
This article is part of the Research TopicDietary Supplements for Optimizing Rumen Health and Nutrient Digestibility in LivestockView all 17 articles
Dietary energy alters jejunal microbial function without changing its structure in Small-tailed Han sheep
Provisionally accepted
- Institute of Animal Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China
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Dietary energy levels typically influence the structure and functional profile of the gastrointestinal microbial community. In this study, thirty 6-month-old Small-tailed Han (STH) sheep were randomly divided into three groups and fed corn-based diets with different energy levels for 150 days. Jejunal contents were then collected and analyzed using metagenomic sequencing to assess microbial alpha diversity and taxonomic composition. Functional annotation and enrichment analysis were performed using the KEGG database. Principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) and alpha diversity indices (Chao1, Shannon, Simpson and good coverage) revealed no significant changes in the overall structure or macro-ecological characteristics of the jejunal microbial community in response to dietary energy levels. At the phylum level, Bacillota was the absolutely dominant phylum, while at the genus level, Methanobrevibacter was the most abundant genus. The abundances of these core microbial taxa did not differ significantly among groups. However, KEGG functional enrichment analysis revealed significant differences in microbial functions between groups. The low-energy group exhibited enrichment in pathways related to energy deficiency and stress adaptation, whereas the high-energy group showed significant enrichment in pathways associated with active growth and anabolic metabolism. In conclusion, although dietary energy levels did not significantly alter the microbial community structure in the jejunum of STH sheep, they profoundly influenced its functional potential. These findings suggest that dietary energy may modulate host nutrient acquisition and health status by regulating the functional characteristics of the jejunal microbiota.
Keywords: Differentdietary energy levels, Functional potential, Jejunal microbiota, metagenomic sequencing, Sheep
Received: 22 Dec 2025; Accepted: 22 Jan 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Song, Pu, Liu, Hou, Zou, Xiang, Gu and Chu. 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: Mingxing Chu
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