Free-choice Mongolian herbal-mineral supplementation improves serum mineral, antioxidant, endocrine, and metabolic indices in rams with pica

IntroductionPica is a common abnormal feeding behavior in sheep and is often associated with mineral imbalance, oxidative stress, and metabolic dysfunction; however, the responses of affected sheep to herbal–mineral supplementation remain poorly characterized. This study evaluated the effects of a free-choice Mongolian herbal–mineral supplement (MHMS) on serum mineral concentrations, antioxidant capacity, biochemical and endocrine indices, and serum metabolomic profiles in rams with pica.MethodsTwenty East Friesian rams with pica (1.5 ± 0.2 years of age; 42.6 ± 3.8 kg body weight) were randomly allocated to a control group receiving a basal diet (CON, n = 10) or a group receiving the same basal diet with free-choice access to MHMS (MHMS, n = 10). The intervention lasted for 60 days following a 14-day adaptation period, and serum samples were collected at the end of the trial.ResultsCompared with the CON group, the MHMS group had higher serum Cu, Zn, Se, triiodothyronine, thyroxine, insulin-like growth factor 1, and growth hormone concentrations and greater total antioxidant capacity, but lower serum glucose and cortisol concentrations and aspartate aminotransferase activity (p < 0.05). Untargeted serum metabolomic analysis putatively annotated 1,062 metabolites. Using the criteria of variable importance in projection (VIP) > 1.0, p < 0.05, and fold change (FC) ≥ 1.5 or ≤ 0.67, 112 candidate differentially abundant metabolites were detected, including 51 with higher abundance and 61 with lower abundance in the MHMS group. Pathway analysis highlighted porphyrin metabolism, in which glycine abundance was higher and porphobilinogen abundance was lower in the MHMS group.DiscussionOverall, these findings suggest that free-choice MHMS supplementation may influence trace-element status and related antioxidant, endocrine, and metabolic responses in rams with pica.