Abstract
Lowering dietary protein content is one of the effective ways to reduce nitrogen (N) emissions and conserve protein feed resources. However, it is unclear how reducing dietary protein levels affects milk quality and the efficiency of N utilization in lactating goats. It is therefore difficult to determine exactly how much reduction in dietary protein levels is optimal. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of low-protein diets on milk quality, N balance and rumen microbiota in lactating goats. A total of 50 lactating goats were enrolled in a completely randomized design and maintained on either a diet with 15.82% protein level as the control group (CON) or reduced protein levels with 13.85% (R2 group), 11.86% (R4 group), 9.84% (R6 group) and 7.85% (R8 group), respectively. The results showed that the dry matter intake, milk yield, fecal and urinary N excretion and utilization efficiency of N of lactating goats decreased linearly with reduced dietary protein levels. Specifically, the milk yield was reduced by the R8 group (p < 0.05). Furthermore, the R8 group reduced the contents of protein, fat and lactose (p < 0.05), but R2 and R4 have no influence (p > 0.05). The R6 group decreased protein content only at the 4th week. Fecal and urinary N excretion and utilization efficiency of N reduced linearly with decreasing dietary protein levels (p < 0.05). The R8 group affected the relative abundance of rumen microbiota including Christensenellaceae_R-7_group, NK4A214_group and UCG-005 (p < 0.05). In conclusion, lowering dietary protein levels decreased milk quality and N excretion by altering rumen microbiota in goats during lactation. This phenomenon was most pronounced when the dietary protein level was reduced by 8 percentage points. Nevertheless, dietary protein levels should not be reduced by more than 6 percentage points to ensure normal performance of the goat during lactation.