摘要The objective of this study was to determine the effect of dietary supplementation of β-hydroxybutyric acid(BHBA)on performance,nutrient digestibility,organ development,and serum composition in early-weaned goat kids.Sixty-four goat kids at 30 d of age were assigned to 4 treatments in a completely randomized design:1)control(basal diet);2)low(basal diet with 3 g/d per animal BHBA);3)medium(basal diet with 6 g/d per animal BHBA;and 4)high(basal diet with 9 g/d per animal BHBA).Subse-quently,48(6 kids per treatment)goat kids were randomly selected and slaughtered at 60 and 90 d of age.Compared with the control group,BHBA at low and high doses increased body weight(P＜0.05),average daily gain(P＜0.01),and average daily starter intake(P＜0.01).The BHBA improved organ development,especially at the lowest dose(P＜0.01).The digestibility of dry matter and crude protein increased with age(P＜0.05).However,BHBA did not affect nutrient digestibility.Compared with the control group,serum ceruloplasmin increased(P＜0.05)with high BHBA level at 90 d of age.However,the serum creatinine(P＜0.05)increased over time but was not affected by BHBA.The serum total antioxidant capacity and superoxide dismutase decreased with the high dose of BHBA at 90 d of age(P＜0.01).In contrast,the serum glutathione peroxidase and malondialdehyde increased with the high doses of BHBA(P＜0.01).Overall,low doses of BHBA were positive for growth performance,organ development,and health status against weaning stress.Whereas high doses of BHBA in the long term could negatively affect antioxidant status.