Effects of Adding Sophora alopecuroides to High Grain Diet on Serum Immune and Antioxidant Indexes of Dumont Lamb

PurposeTo study the effect of adding Sophora alopecuroides to high grain diet on the serum immunity and antioxidant indexes of Dumont fattening lambs.

MethodA total of 32 healthy Dumont lambs with similar weight (25.73±2.17) kg were randomly divided into four groups, with eight replicates in each group. The control group was fed with basic diet, and the T₁, T₂ and T₃ groups were fed with 0.1%, 0.3% and 0.5% S. alopecuroides, respectively. Relative indexes were tested after 75 days feeding.

Results1) On the 30th day, the levels of T lymphocyte subsets CD3⁺ of T₁ group and CD4⁺ of T₂ group increased significantly (P<0.05), and the mass concentrations of interferon (IFN) in the three experimental groups were significantly higher than those in the control group (P<0.05), while the mass concentrations of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) in the serum of T₂ and T₃ groups were significantly lower than those in the control group (P<0.05). On the 60th day, the CD4⁺ level and CD4⁺/CD8⁺ ratio in serum of T₁ and T₂ groups increased extremely significantly and significantly (P<0.01 and P<0.05), respectively, while the mass concentrations of immunoglobulin M (IgM), immunoglobulin G (IgG) and transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) in serum of T₂ group increased extremely significantly (P<0.01). In addition, the mass concentrations of interleukin-10 (IL-10) and interleukin-22 (IL-22) in T₂ group were significantly higher than those in other three groups (P<0.05), while the mass concentrations of interleukin-6 (IL-6) in T₁ and T₂ groups were extremely significantly lower than those in control group (P<0.01). 2) With the increase of test days, the mass concentrations of immunoglobulin A (IgA) and IgG in T₁ group, and IgA in T₂ and T₃ groups decreased extremely significantly (P<0.01), while the mass concentration of TGF-β in T₂ group increased extremely significantly (P<0.05). 3) On the 30th day, the activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) of three groups decreased extremely significantly (P<0.01), while the content of malondialdehyde (MDA) decreased extremely significantly (P<0.01).

ConclusionAdding S. alopecuroides in high grain diet can improve the immune function and antioxidant capacity of lambs, alleviate the inflammatory reaction of lamb under high grain diet, and then give full played to the growth potential of fattening lambs, with the best feeding effect at 0.1%-0.3%.