Effects of corn particle size on growth performance,nutrient apparent digestibility,and fecal microbial diversity in growing Moschus berezovskii

YAN Hui; DAI Qindan; JIANG Guimei; YANG Jie; WANG Huan; ZHOU Lei

doi:10.13557/j.cnki.issn1002-2813.2025.24.004

Abstract：This experiment aimed to investigate the effects of corn particle size on the growth performance,nutrient apparent digestibility,and fecal microbial diversity in growing Moschus berezovskii.A total of 15 healthy 12-month-old Moschus berezovskii with an initial body weight of(6.60±0.38)kg were selected and randomly divided into three groups,with five replicates per group(one ♂,four ♀)and one deer per replicate.Control group,trial group Ⅰ,and trial group Ⅱcorn were crushed using 2,6,and 10 mm sieve screen,respectively,and the concentrate supplem composition was the same for each group.The pre-test period was seven days,and the formal test period was 63 days.The results showed that the final body weight of thetrial group Ⅱ was significantly lower than that of the control group and trial group Ⅰ(P<0.05).The apparent digestibility of phosphorus in the trial group Ⅰ was significantly lower than that in the control group and trial group Ⅱ(P<0.05).At the phylum level,the relative abundance of Bacteroidota in the control group was significantly higher than that in the trial groups Ⅰand Ⅱ(P<0.05),while the relative abundance of Planctomycetota was significantly lower than that in trial group Ⅱ(P<0.05).At the genus level,the relative abundance of Eubacterium_siraeum_group in the trial group Ⅰ was significantly higher than that in the control group and trial group Ⅱ(P<0.05),and the relative abundance of the dgA-11 gut group in the control group was significantly higher than that in the trial groups Ⅰ and Ⅱ(P<0.05).The study shows that grinding corn is beneficial for improving the growth performance of growing Moschus berezovskii,protecting intestinal health,and the best effect is achieved when using a 2 mm sieve screen.