Fecha de publicación: -- Fuente: PubMed "meat" J Anim Sci. 2026 Sep 8:skag288. doi: 10.1093/jas/skag288. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTFeeding time is a modifiable management factor that regulates nutrient digestibility and circadian physiological rhythms in ruminants. Twelve 7-month-old Dorper × Hu crossbred rams with an initial body weight of 47 ± 2.42 kg were individually housed in metabolism crates and randomly allocated to two feeding groups provided with an identical basal diet: daytime feeding (DP, feed available 08:00-20:00, n = 6) and nighttime feeding (NP, feed available 20:00-08:00, n = 6). Each ram served as the experimental unit. After a 7-day adaptation, feces and urine were collected for 7 days by total collection. Blood was sampled over 4 consecutive days, and ruminal, cecal, and longissimus dorsi samples were collected after slaughter. Non-omics outcomes were analyzed using Student's t-test; microbial relative abundances were compared using Welch's t-tests, and community-level differences were evaluated using analysis of similarities and permutational multivariate analysis of variance. Differential metabolites were identified using a variable importance in projection value > 1 and Student's t-test at P < 0.05. Descriptive co-variation patterns between differential microbiota and metabolites were visualized via Spearman's rank correlation. Ether extract digestibility (P = 0.012), nitrogen digestibility (P = 0.041), and plasma urea concentration (P = 0.011) were greater in DP than NP sheep. Concentrations of malondialdehyde, total antioxidant capacity, interferon-γ, interleukin-10, tumor necrosis factor-α, glucagon-like peptide-1, serotonin, and melatonin were greater in NP sheep (P ≤ 0.017). Feeding schedule was also associated with different ruminal and cecal microbial taxa and metabolite profiles. Carcass traits and physical meat quality did not differ between treatments. Thus, feeding time markedly remodeled nutrient digestibility, circulating biomarkers, and gastrointestinal profiles, but longer trials are required to determine effects on growth performance and feed efficiency.PMID:42712151 | DOI:10.1093/jas/skag288