Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Research Article

Reclamation of Astragalus By-Product through Dietary Inclusion in Ruminant Diets: Effects on Growth Performance, Nutrient Digestibility, Rumen Fermentation, Blood Biochemical Parameters, and Humoral Immune Response in Sheep

Table 4

Blood biochemical parameters and humoral immune response of sheep fed diets supplemented with different levels of dietary Astragalus by-product.


Items¹	Dietary treatments²			SEM	Time³				value
Items¹	Control	10% ABP	15% ABP	SEM	D0	D15	D30	D45	DT	T	DT × T	L	Q

Blood biochemical parameters
TP (g/L)	66.86	59.63	64.58	0.491	65.49	61.34	63.72	64.21	0.071	0.535	0.621	0.726	0.428
ALB (g/L)	35.58	32.81	35.51	0.669	35.09	33.09	34.67	35.68	0.184	0.437	0.449	0.437	0.245
GLB (g/L)	31.29	26.82	29.08	0.734	30.41	28.25	29.05	28.54	0.111	0.620	0.862	0.703	0.785
BUN (mmol/L)	6.17	5.42	6.48	0.231	5.99	6.22	6.76	5.11	0.125	0.077	0.206	0.145	0.627
GLU (mmol/L)	4.07	3.76	4.09	0.080	4.18	3.71	4.00	4.02	0.255	0.225	0.507	0.318	0.514
TG (mmol/L)	0.39	0.33	0.41	0.017	0.37	0.36	0.45	0.33	0.357	0.052	0.734	0.953	0.579
CHOL (mmol/L)	1.86^a	1.41^b	1.76^ab	0.059	1.93	1.51	1.57	1.69	0.043	0.052	0.709	0.704	0.611
HDL-CH (mmol/L)	1.20	1.07	1.33	0.040	1.24	1.19	1.22	1.15	0.156	0.642	0.405	0.217	0.166
LDL-CH (mmol/L)	0.57	0.44	0.45	0.022	0.58^a	0.45^ab	0.43^b	0.49^b	0.285	0.017	0.375	0.143	0.286

Immune response
IgG (μg/mL)	126.72	127.25	122.69	5.287	138.95	115.70	113.25	134.32	0.904	0.390	0.960	0.772	0.765
IgM (μg/mL)	364.69	363.40	361.72	9.664	405.67	347.71	342.74	356.97	0.988	0.301	0.649	0.103	0.278
IgA (μg/mL)	54.54	52.06	54.41	1.812	56.33	54.60	51.52	52.23	0.682	0.760	0.941	0.992	0.574

^a,bMeans within a row with different subscripts differ when ; ¹TP, total protein; ALB, albumin; GLB, globulin; BUN, blood urea nitrogen; GLU, glucose; TG, triglyceride; CHOL, cholesterol; HDL-CH, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol; LDL-CH, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol; IgG, immunoglobulin G; IgM, immunoglobulin M; IgA, immunoglobulin A; ²ABP, Astragalus by-product; ³D, day; DT, dietary treatment; T, time; SEM, standard error of the mean.