Dietary Cadmium Exposure in Black Goats: Impacts on Growth Performance, Serum Biochemical and Immune Parameters, Meat Quality, and Tissue Accumulation.
- 1College of Animal Science and Technology, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China.
- 2Hunan Institute of Animal and Veterinary Science, Changsha 410131, China.
- 3School of Biological and Chemical Engineering, Zhejiang University of Science and Technology, Hangzhou 310023, China.
Abstract
Cadmium (Cd) present in soil can accumulate in plants and subsequently affect the safety and quality of animal-derived food products. This study investigated the effects of dietary Cd exposure derived from rice straw on the growth performance, serum biochemical and immune parameters, meat quality, and tissue accumulation of black goats. A 90-day feeding trial was carried out with 42 healthy male black goats at 4 months. Prior to the feeding trial, six goats were slaughtered to establish baseline group, and the remaining 36 goats were randomly assigned to two groups fed with a diet containing Cd-contaminated rice straw (CAD, n = 18) or not (CON, n = 18). At 30, 60, and 90 d, six goats per group (n = 6) were randomly selected and slaughtered for sample collection. The results showed that dietary Cd exposure had no significant effects on growth performance and the indices of heart, liver, spleen, lung, and kidney (p > 0.05). Meanwhile, it induced tissue-specific and time-dependent Cd accumulation, with lymph nodes identified as the primary Cd target tissue in goats, followed by kidney and liver (p < 0.05). The CAD group exhibited higher concentrations of serum urea nitrogen and interleukin-10, and lower concentrations of serum glucose and creatinine. Fecal cadmium deposition efficiency (CdE) ranged from 95.68% to 97.01% in the CON group and from 68.48% to 88.74% in the CAD group, whereas the CdE in muscle and internal organs remained below 2% in both groups. These findings indicate that fecal excretion constitutes the predominant elimination pathway for ingested Cd, with only a negligible proportion retained in edible tissues and internal organs. However, based on the present findings, we cannot recommend the use of Cd-contaminated rice straw as a feed source for goats, nor can we confirm the safety of meat from exposed animals for human consumption. Further long-term studies, including human health risk assessments, are needed before any recommendations can be made.
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BibTeX
@article{luo2026dietary,
title = {{Dietary Cadmium Exposure in Black Goats: Impacts on Growth Performance, Serum Biochemical and Immune Parameters, Meat Quality, and Tissue Accumulation.}},
author = {Yang Luo and Bin Yang and Qinyang Jiang},
journal = {Animals : an open access journal from MDPI},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.3390/ani16193115},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42883084},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Dietary Cadmium Exposure in Black Goats: Impacts on Growth Performance, Serum Biochemical and Immune Parameters, Meat Quality, and Tissue Accumulation.
AU - Yang Luo
AU - Bin Yang
AU - Qinyang Jiang
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/04
JO - Animals : an open access journal from MDPI
DO - 10.3390/ani16193115
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42883084
AB - Cadmium (Cd) present in soil can accumulate in plants and subsequently affect the safety and quality of animal-derived food products. This study investigated the effects of dietary Cd exposure derived from rice straw on the growth performance, serum biochemical and immune parameters, meat quality, and tissue accumulation of black goats. A 90-day feeding trial was carried out with 42 healthy male black goats at 4 months. Prior to the feeding trial, six goats were slaughtered to establish baseline group, and the remaining 36 goats were randomly assigned to two groups fed with a diet containing Cd-contaminated rice straw (CAD, n = 18) or not (CON, n = 18). At 30, 60, and 90 d, six goats per group (n = 6) were randomly selected and slaughtered for sample collection. The results showed that dietary Cd exposure had no significant effects on growth performance and the indices of heart, liver, spleen, lung, and kidney (p > 0.05). Meanwhile, it induced tissue-specific and time-dependent Cd accumulation, with lymph nodes identified as the primary Cd target tissue in goats, followed by kidney and liver (p < 0.05). The CAD group exhibited higher concentrations of serum urea nitrogen and interleukin-10, and lower concentrations of serum glucose and creatinine. Fecal cadmium deposition efficiency (CdE) ranged from 95.68% to 97.01% in the CON group and from 68.48% to 88.74% in the CAD group, whereas the CdE in muscle and internal organs remained below 2% in both groups. These findings indicate that fecal excretion constitutes the predominant elimination pathway for ingested Cd, with only a negligible proportion retained in edible tissues and internal organs. However, based on the present findings, we cannot recommend the use of Cd-contaminated rice straw as a feed source for goats, nor can we confirm the safety of meat from exposed animals for human consumption. Further long-term studies, including human health risk assessments, are needed before any recommendations can be made.
SN - 2076-2615
ER -