Abstract
BACKGROUND: As the foal grows, the amount of breast milk produced by the donkey decreases. In such cases, early supplemental feeding is particularly important to meet the growth needs of the foal. Foals have an incompletely developed gastrointestinal tract with a homogenous microbiota and produce insufficient amounts of digestive enzymes, which limit their ability to digest and utilize forage. Improving the utilization of early supplemental feeds, promoting gastrointestinal tract development, and enriching microbial diversity are the hotspots of rapid growth research in dairy foals. Plant-based feeds usually contain non-starch polysaccharides (NSPs), including cellulose, xylan, mannan, and glucan, which hinder nutrient digestion and absorption. In addition, proteins and starch (both biomolecules) form a composite system mainly through non-covalent interactions. The proteins wrap around the surface of starch granules and act as a physical obstacle, thereby inhibiting water absorption and expansion of starch and decreasing the enzyme's catalytic effect on starch. Glyanase, β-mannanase, β-glucanase, cellulase, protease, and amylase added to cereal diets can alleviate the adverse effects of NSPs. The current study determined the effects of adding multienzymes (glyanase, β-mannanase, β-glucanase, cellulase, protease, and amylase) to the diet of 2-month-old suckling donkeys on their growth performance, apparent nutrient digestibility, fecal volatile fatty acid (VFA) and pH, fecal bacterial composition, and blood biochemical indices. RESULTS: On day 120 of the trial, fecal samples were collected from the rectum of donkeys for determining bacterial diversity, VFA content, and pH. Moreover, fresh fecal samples were collected from each donkey on days 110 and 115 to determine apparent digestibility. The multienzymes supplementations did not affect growth performance and apparent nutrient digestibility in the donkeys; however, they tended to increase total height gain (P = 0.0544). At the end of the study, the multienzymes supplementations increased (P < 0.05) the Observed species, ACE, Chao1, and Shannon indices by 10.56%, 10.47%, 10.49%, and 5.01%, respectively. The multienzymes supplementations also increased (P < 0.05) the abundance of Firmicutes, Oscillospiraceae, Lachnospiraceae, Christensenellaceae, Christensenellaceae_R-7_group, and Streptococcus in feces, whereas decreased (P = 0.0086) the abundance of Proteobacteria. CONCLUSIONS: Multienzymes supplementations added to a basal diet for suckling donkeys can increase fecal microbial diversity and abundance.