Effects of Exercise on Intestinal Microflora, Intestinal Epithelial Morphology and Meat Quality of Sunit Sheep

PurposeTo explore the effects of exercise on the intestinal environment and meat quality of Sunit sheep.

MethodsTwelve 3-month-old Sunite sheep were randomly divided into house feeding group (C group) and exercise+house feeding group (T group). They were slaughtered after 90 days of the experiment, and the indexes of intestinal mucosal morphology, intestinal flora structure, metabolites (short-chain fatty acids) content, slaughter performance, and meat quality of the two groups were determined.

ResultsThe villus height of duodenum and ileum of Sunit sheep in T group were significantly increased (P<0.05), and the crypt depth of ileum and colon were significantly decreased (P<0.05). Exercise significantly increased the villus height/crypt depth value of ileum of Sunit sheep (P<0.05). 16S rDNA gene high-throughput sequencing showed that at the phylum level, Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes were the main dominant bacterial phyla in the gut of Sunit sheep, and the relative abundance of Bacteroidetes in intestinal tract of T group was significantly higher than that of C group (P<0.05). At the genus level, the relative abundance of Bacteroides and Prevotella-1 in T group was significantly increased compared with that in C group (P<0.05). The intestinal propionic acid content in T group was significantly higher than that in C group (P<0.05). Compared with C group, slaughter rate, pH value of muscle after slaughter 24 hours and shear force of T group were significantly increased (P<0.05), and color difference values (L^*, a^*, and b^*) were significantly decreased (P<0.05).

ConclusionA certain amount of exercise can improve the digestion and absorption capacity of ileum of Sunit sheep fed in house, increase the duodenal epithelial surface area, change the structure of the intestinal flora and improve its intestinal environment, improve the slaughter rate, but make the tenderness of longissimus dorsi worse.