Table 3.

Effects of HMB on short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) in jejunal and ileal contents of Tibetan lambs (n = 6)

Items	Treatments¹				SEM	P-value
Items	CON	L-HMB	M-HMB	H-HMB	SEM	P-value
Jejunum
Total SCFAs, mmol/L	7.22^b	7.89^b	8.98^a	7.70^b	0.184	< 0.001
Acetate, mmol/L	5.81^b	6.40^b	7.16^a	6.13^b	0.169	0.007
Propionate, mmol/L	0.71^d	0.83^c	1.14^a	0.94^b	0.035	< 0.001
Butyrate, mmol/L	0.60	0.57	0.59	0.53	0.018	0.552
Valerate, mmol/L	0.10	0.09	0.09	0.10	0.006	0.704
Acetate/Propionate	8.26^a	7.82^ab	6.33^b	6.55^b	0.267	0.032
Acetate, %	80.44	80.93	79.51	79.49	0.482	0.774
Propionate, %	9.84^b	10.63^ab	12.87^a	12.29^a	0.393	0.031
Butyrate, %	8.30	7.27	6.55	6.84	0.266	0.082
Valerate, %	1.43	1.17	1.07	1.38	0.090	0.332
Ileum
Total SCFAs, mmol/L	12.82^b	13.94^b	16.04^a	14.03^b	0.318	< 0.001
Acetate, mmol/L	9.83^b	11.04^b	12.66^a	11.07^b	0.285	< 0.001
Propionate, mmol/L	1.49^b	1.51^b	1.89^a	1.47^b	0.043	< 0.001
Butyrate, mmol/L	1.36	1.26	1.36	1.38	0.020	0.12
Valerate, mmol/L	0.13	0.13	0.13	0.12	0.001	0.17
Acetate/Propionate	6.58	7.32	6.72	7.59	0.170	0.10
Acetate, %	76.63^b	79.05^a	78.85^a	78.86^a	0.360	0.04
Propionate, %	11.70	10.94	11.81	10.46	0.222	0.089
Butyrate, %	10.65^a	9.09^bc	8.52^c	9.81^ab	0.217	< 0.001
Valerate, %	1.01^a	0.91^b	0.82^c	0.87^bc	0.020	< 0.001

SCFAs Short chain fatty acids

¹HMB was supplemented at 0 mg/kg (CON group), 430 mg/kg (L-HMB), 715 mg/kg (M-HMB), and 1,000 mg/kg (H-HMB) of diet

^a^−dDifferent letters represent significant differences (P < 0.05)