Dataset Information

RUMINANT NUTRITION SYMPOSIUM: Tiny but mighty: the role of the rumen microbes in livestock production.

ABSTRACT: The microbes inhabiting the rumen convert low-quality, fibrous, plant material into useable energy for the host ruminant. Consisting of bacteria, protozoa, fungi, archaea, and viruses, the rumen microbiome composes a sophisticated network of symbiosis essential to maintenance, immune function, and overall production efficiency of the host ruminant. Robert Hungate laid the foundation for rumen microbiome research. This area of research has expanded immensely with advances in methodology and technology that have not only improved the ability to describe microbes in taxonomic and density terms but also characterize populations of microbes, their functions, and their interactions with each other and the host. The interplay between the rumen microbiome and the host contributes to variation in many phenotypic traits expressed by the host animal. A better understanding of how the rumen microbiome influences host health and performance may lead to novel strategies and treatments for trait improvement. Furthermore, elucidation of maternal, genetic, and environmental factors that influence rumen microbiome establishment and development may provide novel insights into possible mechanisms for manipulating the rumen microbial composition to enhance long-term host health and performance. The potential for these tiny but mighty rumen microbes to play a role in improving livestock production is appreciated despite being relatively obscure.

SUBMITTER: Cammack KM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6140983 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

RUMINANT NUTRITION SYMPOSIUM: Tiny but mighty: the role of the rumen microbes in livestock production.

Cammack Kristi M KM Austin Kathleen J KJ Lamberson William R WR Conant Gavin C GC Cunningham Hannah C HC

Journal of animal science 20180301 2

The microbes inhabiting the rumen convert low-quality, fibrous, plant material into useable energy for the host ruminant. Consisting of bacteria, protozoa, fungi, archaea, and viruses, the rumen microbiome composes a sophisticated network of symbiosis essential to maintenance, immune function, and overall production efficiency of the host ruminant. Robert Hungate laid the foundation for rumen microbiome research. This area of research has expanded immensely with advances in methodology and techn ...[more]

PMID: 29385535

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Project description:Many nutritionists adopt feeding strategies designed to increase ruminal starch fermentation because ruminal capacity for starch degradation often exceeds amounts of starch able to be digested in the small intestine of cattle. However, increases in fermentable energy supply are positively correlated with increased instances of metabolic disorders and reductions in DMI, and energy derived by cattle subsequent to fermentation is less than that derived when glucose is intestinally absorbed. Small intestinal starch digestion (SISD) appears to be limited by ?-glycohydrolase secretions and a precise understanding of digestion of carbohydrates in the small intestine remains equivocal. Interestingly, small intestinal ?-glycohydrolase secretions are responsive to luminal appearance of milk-specific protein (i.e., casein) in the small intestine of cattle, and SISD is increased by greater postruminal flows of individual AA (i.e., Glu). Greater flows of casein and Glu appear to augment SISD, but by apparently different mechanisms. Greater small intestinal absorption of glucose has been associated with increased omental fat accretion even though SISD can increase NE from starch by more than 42% compared to ruminal starch degradation. Nonetheless, in vitro data suggest that greater glucogenicity of diets can allow for greater intramuscular fat accretion, and if greater small intestinal absorption of glucose does not mitigate hepatic gluconeogenesis then increases in SISD may provide opportunity to increase synthesis of intramuscular fat. If duodenal metabolizable AA flow can be altered to allow for improved SISD in cattle, then diet modification may allow for large improvements in feed efficiency and beef quality. Few data are available on direct effects of increases in SISD in response to greater casein or metabolizable Glu flow. An improved understanding of effects of increased SISD in response to greater postruminal flow of Glu and casein on improvements in NE and fates of luminally assimilated glucose could allow for increased efficiency of energy use from corn and improvements in conversion of corn grain to beef. New knowledge related to effects of greater postruminal flow of Glu and casein on starch utilization by cattle will allow nutritionists to more correctly match dietary nutrients to cattle requirements, thereby allowing large improvements in nutrient utilization and efficiency of gain among cattle fed starch-based diets.

Project description:Methane (CH4) formed in the rumen and released to the atmosphere constitutes an energy inefficiency to ruminant production. Redirecting energy in CH4 to fermentation products with a nutritional value to the host animal could increase ruminant productivity and stimulate the adoption of CH4-suppressing strategies. The hypothesis of this research was that inhibiting CH4 formation in the rumen is associated with greater ruminant productivity. The primary objective of this meta-analysis was to evaluate how inhibiting rumen methanogenesis relates with the efficiencies of milk production and growth and fattening. A systematic review of peer-reviewed studies in which rumen methanogenesis was inhibited with chemical compounds was conducted. Experiments were clustered based on research center, year of publication, experimental design, feeding regime, type of animal, production response, inhibitor of CH4 production, and method of CH4 measurement. Response variables were regressed against the random experiment effect nested in its cluster, the random effect of the cluster, the linear and quadratic effects of CH4 production, and the random interaction between CH4 production and the experiment nested in the cluster. When applicable, responses were adjusted by intake of different nutrients included as regressors. Inhibiting rumen methanogenesis tended to associate positively with milk production efficiency, although the relationship was influenced by individual experiments. Likewise, a positive relationship between methanogenesis inhibition and growth and fattening efficiency depended on the inclusion and weighting of individual experiments. Inhibiting rumen methanogenesis negatively associated with dry matter intake. Interpretation of the effects of inhibiting methanogenesis on productivity is limited by the availability of experiments simultaneously reporting energy losses in feces, H2, urine and heat production, as well as net energy partition. It is concluded that inhibiting rumen methanogenesis has not consistently translated into greater animal productivity, and more animal performance experiments are necessary to better characterize the relationships between animal productivity and methanogenesis inhibition in the rumen. A more complete understanding of changes in the flows of nutrients caused by inhibiting rumen methanogenesis and their effect on intake also seems necessary to effectively re-channel energy gained from CH4 suppression toward consistent gains in productivity.

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Dataset Information

RUMINANT NUTRITION SYMPOSIUM: Tiny but mighty: the role of the rumen microbes in livestock production.

Publications

RUMINANT NUTRITION SYMPOSIUM: Tiny but mighty: the role of the rumen microbes in livestock production.

Similar Datasets

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