Dataset Information

Pyrosequencing reveals diverse fecal microbiota in Simmental calves during early development.

ABSTRACT: From birth to the time after weaning the gastrointestinal microbiota of calves must develop into a stable, autochthonous community accompanied by pivotal changes of anatomy and physiology of the gastrointestinal tract. The aim of this pilot study was to examine the fecal microbiota of six Simmental dairy calves to investigate time-dependent dynamics of the microbial community. Calves were followed up from birth until after weaning according to characteristic timepoints during physiological development of the gastrointestinal tract. Pyrosequencing of 16S rRNA gene amplicons from 35 samples yielded 253,528 reads clustering into 5410 operational taxonomic units based on 0.03 16S rRNA distance. Operational taxonomic units were assigned to 296 genera and 17 phyla with Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, and Proteobacteria being most abundant. An age-dependent increasing diversity and species richness was observed. Highest similarities between fecal microbial communities were found around weaning compared with timepoints from birth to the middle of the milk feeding period. Principal coordinate analysis revealed a high variance particularly in samples taken at the middle of the milk feeding period (at the age of approximately 40 days) compared to earlier timepoints, confirming a unique individual development of the fecal microbiota of each calf. This study provides first deep insights into the composition of the fecal microbiota of Simmental dairy calves and might be a basis for future more detailed studies.

SUBMITTER: Klein-Jobstl D

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4233928 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Pyrosequencing reveals diverse fecal microbiota in Simmental calves during early development.

Klein-Jöbstl Daniela D Schornsteiner Elisa E Mann Evelyne E Wagner Martin M Drillich Marc M Schmitz-Esser Stephan S

Frontiers in microbiology 20141117

From birth to the time after weaning the gastrointestinal microbiota of calves must develop into a stable, autochthonous community accompanied by pivotal changes of anatomy and physiology of the gastrointestinal tract. The aim of this pilot study was to examine the fecal microbiota of six Simmental dairy calves to investigate time-dependent dynamics of the microbial community. Calves were followed up from birth until after weaning according to characteristic timepoints during physiological devel ...[more]

PMID: 25452753

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Project description:Calf diarrhea is a leading cause of death in preweaning calves and it causes major economic losses to producers. Acidified milk has been shown to have beneficial effects on health and growth parameters in calves but there is little research into its effects on the microbiota, and few studies on the use of acidified colostrum. The purpose of this study was to compare how feeding acidified colostrum to calves at birth affects fecal microbiota from birth through 8 wk of age compared with calves fed nonacidified colostrum. In this study, 5 calves received acidified colostrum (treated group) and 5 calves received nonacidified colostrum (control group) at birth and at 12 h of age. All calves were subsequently fed acidified whole milk until weaning at 8 wk of age and had access to starter grain starting at d 3 and throughout the study. Fecal samples were collected at 24 h, 48 h, and at 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 wk of age. Samples were extracted for genomic DNA, PCR-amplified for the V1-V2 region of the 16S rRNA bacteria gene, sequenced, and analyzed using QIIME2. Bacterial richness (estimated by number of observed species) and bacterial diversity (estimated by Shannon diversity index) differed between time points but not between treatment groups, and both increased over time. Weighted and unweighted UniFrac analysis showed differences between bacterial communities across time points and treatments. Across all time points (lmer test), 6 bacterial genera were different between treatments: Faecalibacterium and unclassified Clostridiaceae were more abundant, whereas Atopobium, Collinsella, CF231, and unclassified Veillonellaceae were less abundant in treated versus control calves. Faecalibacterium is a butyrate-producing bacterium that has been linked to decreased prevalence of diarrhea in calves. Our results indicate that there is considerable flux in the calf microbiome through the neonatal period and weaning transition but that feeding acidified colostrum followed by acidified whole milk allowed early colonization of Faecalibacterium. Further studies are needed to verify the positive benefits of promoting Faecalibacterium on improving the health of preweaning calves.

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Dataset Information

Pyrosequencing reveals diverse fecal microbiota in Simmental calves during early development.

Publications

Pyrosequencing reveals diverse fecal microbiota in Simmental calves during early development.

Similar Datasets

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