Effects of Noni (Morinda citrifolia L.) Fruit Extract Supplemented in Cashmere Goats with a High-Concentrate Diet on Growth Performance, Ruminal and Colonic Fermentation and SARA

SIMPLE SUMMARY: At present, cashmere goats are usually raised in a semi-intensive system to reduce the damage to grassland resources and ensure a more balanced intake of nutrients in China. Additionally, for maximizing production performance, intensive feeding management usually significantly increases the proportion of concentrate in the diet, which will seriously harm ruminant health in the long run. Noni fruit and its extracts showed good production-promoting and anti-inflammatory effects in poultry and freshwater fish production. However, it is unclear whether ethanol extract of noni fruit can alleviate the adverse effects of high-concentrate on goats. This study was conducted to investigate the effects of a high-concentrate diet supplemented with noni fruit extract (NFE) on growth performance, ruminal and colonic fermentation, nutrient digestion, and subacute rumen acidosis (SARA) of cashmere kids. The results showed that although a high-concentrate diet improved the growth performance of cashmere goats, it was at the expense of healthy fermentation modes of rumen and colon, such as significantly decreased pH and obviously increased lactic acid in rumen and colon. The supplementation of 0.10% NFE in a high-concentrate diet could not only effectively alleviate SARA and colon fermentation disorders induced by high-concentrate, but also improve the feed conversion efficiency in cashmere kids. ABSTRACT: This experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of noni fruit extract (NFE) on growth performance, ruminal and colonic fermentation, nutrient digestion, and subacute rumen acidosis (SARA) of cashmere goats with the high-concentrate diet. Twenty-four cashmere kids (17.9 ± 1.45 kg of BW ± SD) were randomly assigned to three treatments: low-concentrate diet, high-concentrate (HC) diet, or HC diet supplemented with NFE at 1 g per kg DM (0.1%). The results showed that although the HC diet improved the average daily gain (ADG) and feed conversion rate (FCR), it was accompanied by SARA with a decreased pH and an increased lactic acid of both rumen and colon, and decreased digestibility of neutral detergent fiber (NDF)and acid detergent fiber (ADF). The supplementation of 0.10% NFE in the HC diet could not only effectively alleviate SARA symptoms and colon fermentation disorders, such as reversing the decrease of pH and alleviating the increase of lactic acid in rumen and colon, but also mitigate the decline of fiber digestibility caused by long-term feeding in the HC diet, and increase the digestibility of crude protein(CP) and dry matter (DM), which improved the ADG and FCR of cashmere kids. Thus, NFE provides new strategies for alleviating SARA and promoting cashmere goat growth.