Czech J. Anim. Sci., 2026, 71(4):180-189 | DOI: 10.17221/96/2025-CJAS

Dietary yeast culture supplementation improves meat quality and fat metabolism-related gene expression in lambsOriginal Paper

Jun Xiao1, Xue Han1, Wei Zhao2, Xin Li2, Zhiwen Xuan2, Zhibao Wang2, Qing He2, Yang Gao2, Tingwei Wang2, Songze Li1, Yuanhong Xia1, Tao Wang1,2, Zhe Sun1,2,3, Yuguo Zhen1,2, Xuefeng Zhang1,2, Xue Chen1
1 JLAU-Borui Dairy Science and Technology R&D Center, Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition and Feed Science of Jilin Province, Key Laboratory of Animal Production Product Quality and Security Ministry of Education, College of Animal Science and Technology, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun, P.R. China
2 Postdoctoral Scientific Research Workstation, Feed Engineering Technology Research Center of Jilin Province, Changchun Borui Science & Technology Co. Ltd., Changchun, P.R. China
3 College of Life Science, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun, P.R. China

This study evaluated the effects of dietary yeast culture (YC) supplementation on lamb growth performance and meat quality. After 14 days of acclimation, 20 three-month-old lambs (30.46 ± 1.77 kg) were randomly assigned to the control (CON, basal diet) or YC-supplemented group (0.625 g/kg DM) for 50 days. While YC induced no significant improvements in growth parameters (average daily gain, average daily feed intake, and feed to gain ratio; P > 0.05), it enhanced the longissimus thoracis (LT) meat quality by elevating the L* (lightness) and a* (redness) values (P < 0.05), reducing shear force (P < 0.05), increasing intramuscular fat (EE, P < 0.05), and decreasing crude protein (P < 0.05). YC modified fatty acid profiles by reducing atherogenic saturated fatty acids (P < 0.05) and elevating C16:1 (P < 0.05). Transcriptional analysis revealed the depot-specific regulation: YC suppressed subcutaneous adipogenesis via downregulation of PPARγ/SREBP-1/HSL and upregulation of LPL and promoted intramuscular fat deposition in LT through the coordinated activation of PPARγ/SREBP-1/FAS/ACC and inhibition of LPL (P < 0.05). These findings demonstrate the capacity of YC to optimise meat sensory attributes and lipid healthfulness through tissue-specific metabolic modulation, supporting its application as a functional feed additive in precision lamb production.

Keywords: fatty acid; growth performance; transcriptional regulation; yeast culture

Received: July 2, 2025; Accepted: April 14, 2026; Prepublished online: April 16, 2026; Published: April 30, 2026  Show citation

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Xiao J, Han X, Zhao W, Li X, Xuan Z, Wang Z, et al.. Dietary yeast culture supplementation improves meat quality and fat metabolism-related gene expression in lambs. Czech Journal of Animal Science. 2026;71(4):180-189. doi: 10.17221/96/2025-CJAS.
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