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Effect of dietary concentrate to forage ratio on growth performance, rumen fermentation and bacterial diversity of Tibetan sheep under barn feeding on the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau.

ABSTRACT: This study aimed to research the effects of different dietary concentrate to forage (C:F) ratio on growth performance, rumen fermentation and bacteria diversity of barn feeding Tibetan sheep. The experiment contains fiver treatments (HS1, HS2 HS3, HS4 and HS5; n = 8, respectively) based on dietary C:F ratios 0:100, 15:85, 30:70, 45:55, and 60:40, respectively. The ruminal bacterial community structure was investigated through high-throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA genes in V4 hypervariable region. The results showed that increasing dietary concentrate feed level from 0% to 60% exerted a positive effect on DMI, BW gain, gain rate and feed conversation ratio (F_CR) in Tibetan sheep. The increases dietary concentrate feed level elevatedNH₃-N, propionate and valerate concentrations, whereas, reduced molar ratio of acetate to propionate (A/P ratio) (P < 0.05). For rumen bacterial diversity, increases in dietary concentrate content contributed to lower alpha diversity indexes including Shannon wiener, Chao1 and observed species, meanwhile, significantly increased the abundances of the phylum Bacteroidetes and the genus Prevotella_1 (P < 0.05). In conclusion, increases dietary concentrate content improved the growth performance and Tibetan sheep fed diets of 45% concentrate obtained a better performance; the inclusion of concentrate in feed changed rumen fermentation from acetate fermentation to propionate fermentation, and improved the energy utilization efficiency of Tibetan sheep; the increased in concentrate content significantly reduced rumen bacteria diversity and changed the abundance of some core bacteria.

SUBMITTER: Liu H

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6686838 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:BACKGROUND:Tibetan sheep (TS) and Gansu Alpine Finewool sheep (GS) are both important plateau sheep raised and fed on the harsh Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, China. Rumen methanogen and protozoal communities of plateau sheep are affected by their hosts and living environments, and play important roles in ruminant nutrition and greenhouse gas production. However, the characteristics, differences, and associations of these communities remain largely uncharacterized. RESULTS:The rumen methanogen and protozoal communities of plateau sheep were investigated by 16S/18S rRNA gene clone libraries. The predominant methanogen order in both sheep species was Methanobacteriales followed by Methanomassiliicoccales, which is consistent with those seen in global ruminants. However, the most dominant species was Methanobrevibacter millerae rather than Methanobrevibacter gottschalkii seen in most ruminants. Compared with GS and other ruminants, TS have more exclusive operational taxonomic units and a lower proportion (64.5%) of Methanobrevibacter. The protozoa were divided into Entodiniomorphida and Vestibuliferida, including nine genera and 15 species. The proportion of holotrich protozoa was much lower (1.1%) in TS than ordinary sheep. The most predominant genus was Entodinium (70.0%) in TS and Enoploplastron (48.8%) in GS, while the most common species was Entodinium furca monolobum (43.9%) and Enoploplastron triloricatum (45.0%) in TS and GS, respectively; Entodinium longinucleatum (22.8%) was only observed in TS. LIBSHUFF analysis indicated that the methanogen communities of TS were significantly different from those of GS, but no significant differences were found in protozoal communities. CONCLUSION:Plateau sheep have coevolved with unique rumen methanogen and protozoal communities to adapt to harsh plateau environments. Moreover, the host appears to have a greater influence on rumen methanogen communities than on rumen protozoal communities. The observed associations of methanogens and protozoa, together with the findings of previous studies on methane emissions from ruminant livestock, revealed that the lower proportion of Methanobrevibacter and holotrich protozoa may be responsible for the lower methane emission of TS. These findings facilitate our understanding of the rumen microbial ecosystem in plateau sheep, and could help the development of new strategies to manipulate rumen microbes to improve productivity and reduce the emission of greenhouse gases.

Project description:IntroductionT-sheep and H-sheep exhibit different environmental adaptability and production performance. The rumen microbiome has co-evolved with hosts and plays a vital role in nutrient digestion and energy metabolism. In our previous study, we found that T-sheep have a higher efficiency in energy metabolism than H-sheep, but the rumen microbial community remains unclear.MethodsIn this study, we determined the rumen bacterial profile and rumen fermentation parameters to reveal the bacterial profiles and predictive functions among breeds and diets with four different energy levels, as well as the correlation between bacterial profiles and rumen fermentation characteristics.ResultsThe results showed that the rumen total volatile fatty acids (VFAs), acetate, butyrate, total branched-chain VFAs, iso-butyrate, and iso-valerate were higher in T-sheep than H-sheep. The alpha diversity of ruminal bacteria is not affected by dietary energy, but it shows a distinction between the sheep breeds. Specifically, T-sheep rumen bacteria exhibit higher alpha diversity than H-sheep. The beta diversity of ruminal bacteria is not influenced by dietary energy or sheep breeds, indicating similar communities of ruminal bacteria between different diets and sheep breeds. The phyla of Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes predominate in the rumen, with a higher relative abundance of Firmicutes observed in T-sheep than H-sheep. The two most abundant genera in the rumen were Prevotella 1 and Rikenellaceae RC9 gut group. Prevotella 1 is the predominant bacterial genus in the rumen of H-sheep, while the Rikenellaceae RC9 gut group dominates in the rumen of T-sheep. Microbial co-occurrence network analysis reveals that variations in rumen fermentation characteristics result from differences in module abundance, with a higher abundance of VFA-producing modules observed in the rumen of T-sheep. Microbial function prediction analysis showed that dietary energy rarely alters the functional composition of rumen bacteria. However, there were differences in the functions of rumen bacteria between sheep breeds, with T-sheep showing a greater emphasis on energy metabolism-related functions, while H-sheep showed a greater emphasis on protein metabolism-related functions.DiscussionThese findings provide evidence of the special rumen microbial community that helps T-sheep efficiently obtain energy from low-protein and low-energy diets, enabling them to survive in the extreme environment of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

Project description:The rumen microbiota of ruminants plays a vital role in fiber digestion, and environmental factors affect its community structure. The yak (Bos grunniens) is the main livestock species that inhabits the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP) at regions located at high-altitude of 3,000-5,000 m. This work investigated the rumen bacterial community of yak that grazed on the QTP during the whole year to evaluate the relationship between the rumen bacterial community and the nutrient composition of forage plant at three stages. In this study, the diversity of the rumen prokaryotic community composition was monitored in 10 full-grazing yak in an alpine meadow of the QTP. The nutrient composition of three forage growth stages was determined: re-green stage (REGY), grassy stage (GY), and withered stage (WGY). High-throughput sequencing of bacterial 16S rRNA gene was used. The results showed that the nutritive composition of the alpine meadow changed with the seasons: crude protein (CP) (13.22%) was high in forage during REGY (spring), while neutral detergent fiber (NDF) (59.00%) was high during WGY (winter). Microbial diversity and richness were highest during REGY and the average number of operational taxonomic units from 30 samples was 4,470. The microbial composition was dominated by members of Bacteroidetes (51.82%), followed by Firmicutes (34.08%), and the relative microbial abundance changed in the three forage growth stages. Unweighted UniFrac distance PcoA showed that the bacterial community structure differed between REGY, GY, and WGY. Furthermore, taxonomic groups did not present differences regarding gender in these three stages. The rumen microbiota was enriched with functional potentials that were related to ABC transporters, the two-component system, Aminoacyl-tRNA biosynthesis, and metabolism of Purine, Pyrimidine, Starch and sucrose metabolism. Significant differences were found in the composition, diversity, and function of yak ruminal microorganisms during different forage growth stages. This indicates that microbial changes in the rumen depend on changes in the forage nutritional composition. These findings provide evidence on the rumen microbial diversity of yaks in the QTP.

Project description:Ruminal microbiota and metabolites play crucial roles in animal health and productivity. Exploring the dynamic changes and interactions between microbial community composition and metabolites is important for understanding ruminal nutrition and metabolism. Tibetan sheep (Ovis aries) are an important livestock resource on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP), and the effects of various dietary protein levels on ruminal microbiota and metabolites are still unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate the response of ruminal microbiota and metabolites to different levels of dietary protein in Tibetan sheep. Three diets with different protein levels (low protein 10.1%, medium protein 12.1%, and high protein 14.1%) were fed to Tibetan sheep. 16S rRNA gene sequencing and gas chromatography coupled with time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC-TOF-MS) were used to study the profile changes in each group of ruminal microbes and metabolites, as well as the potential interaction between them. The rumen microbiota in all groups was dominated by the phyla Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes regardless of the dietary protein level. At the genus level, Prevotella_1, Rikenellaceae_RC9_gut_group and Prevotellaceae_UCG-001 were dominant. Under the same forage-to-concentrate ratio condition, the difference in the dietary protein levels had no significant impact on the bacterial alpha diversity index and relative abundance of the major phyla and genera in Tibetan sheep. Rumen metabolomics analysis revealed that dietary protein levels altered the concentrations of ruminal amino acids, carbohydrates and organic acids, and significantly affected tryptophan metabolism (p < 0.05). Correlation analysis of the microbiota and metabolites revealed positive and negative regulatory mechanisms. Overall, this study provides detailed information on rumen microorganisms and ruminal metabolites under different levels of dietary protein, which could be helpful in subsequent research for regulating animal nutrition and metabolism through nutritional interventions.

Project description:The gut microbiota is closely associated with the health and production performance of livestock. Partial studies on ruminant microbiota are already in progress in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau Area (QTPA) in China, but large-scale and representative profiles for the QTPA are still lacking. Here, 16S rRNA sequencing was used to analyze 340 samples from yak, cattle, yak-cattle hybrids, and Tibetan sheep, which lived in a shared environment from 4 eco-regions of the QTPA during the same season, and aimed to investigate the fecal microbiota community composition, diversity, and potential function. All samples were clustered into 2 enterotypes, which were derived from the genera Ruminococcaceae UCG-005 and Acinetobacter, respectively. Environment, human activity, species, and parasitization all affected the fecal microbiota. By assessing the relationship between the fecal microbiota and the above variables, we identified a scattered pattern of fecal microbiota dissimilarity based more significantly on diet over other factors. Additionally, gastrointestinal nematode infection could reduce the capacity of the bacterial community for biosynthesis of other secondary metabolites, carbohydrate metabolism, and nucleotide metabolism. Ultimately, this study provided a fecal microbiota profile for ruminants living in 4 eco-regions of the QTPA and its potential future applications in developing animal husbandry regimes. IMPORTANCE Cattle, yak, and sheep reside as the main ruminants distributed throughout most regions of Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau Area (QTPA) in China. However, there is a lack of large-scale research in the QTPA on their fecal microbiota, which can regulate and reflect host health as an internalized "microbial organ." Our study depicted the fecal microbiota community composition and diversity of yak, cattle, yak-cattle hybrids, and Tibetan sheep from 4 eco-regions of the QTPA. Additionally, our results demonstrated here that the ruminant samples could be clustered into 2 enterotypes and that diet outweighed other factors in shaping fecal microbiota in the QTPA. This study provided a basis for understanding the microbiota characteristic of ruminants and its possible applications for livestock production in the QTPA.

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Effect of dietary concentrate to forage ratio on growth performance, rumen fermentation and bacterial diversity of Tibetan sheep under barn feeding on the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau.

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