Plasma metabolomic profiles as affected by diet and stress in Spanish goats

The effects of high-condensed tannin (CT) diet combined with preslaughter stress have not been studied at the metabolome level in goats. This study was conducted to determine the effects of feeding sericea lespedeza (SL; Lespedeza cuneata), a high-CT legume, and transportation stress on plasma metabolome in goats. Uncastrated male Spanish goats (age = 8 months; BW = 26.0 ± 0.48 kg) were either fed ground 'Serala' SL hay (SER), bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon) hay (BG), or bermudagrass hay-dewormed goats (BG-DW; Control) at 75% of intake, with a corn-based supplementation (25%) for 8 weeks (n = 12/Diet). At the end of the trial, goats were subjected to one of two stress treatments (ST): transported for 90 min to impose stress (TS) or held in pens (NTS) before slaughtering, in two replicates. Live and carcass weights, and blood samples were collected at 0, 30, 60 and 90 min of transportation or holding time (Time). The data were analyzed using MIXED procedures in SAS and metabolomics data were analyzed using the R software. When measured after ST, SER group had the lowest body weight (P < 0.05) among the three diet groups. Carcass weights were high in the BG-DW, low in SER, and intermediate in BG group. Plasma creatine concentrations decreased over Time (P < 0.01) in the TS goats in all diet groups. Meat crude protein percentages were higher (P < 0.05) in SER (22.5 ± 0.22) and BG-DW (22.3 ± 0.22) groups compared to the BG group (21.6 ± 0.22). At the metabolome level, SER group had the lowest (P < 0.05) glycine, alanine, threonine, taurine, trans-hydroxyproline, methionine, and histidine concentrations and highest (P < 0.01) lysine and citrulline concentrations among the Diet groups. Butyric acid, concentration was higher (P < 0.05) in the SER group compared to BG group. Eight medium- and long-chained acylcarnitines were higher (P < 0.05) in the BG-DW group than SER or BG groups. In general, amino acid levels decreased and acylcarnitine increased with Time (P < 0.05) in all groups. Sericea diet can be beneficial in enhancing stress coping abilities in goats due to elevated butyrate, lysine, and citrulline levels; however, SER resulted in lower energy level in goats compared to BG or BG-DW groups. Fatty acid metabolism is the main energy pathway in all groups during prolonged stress. Inclusion of certain varieties of SL in the diet must be carefully controlled to prevent possible negative effect.