Dataset Information

Comparison of the ruminal and fecal microbiotas in beef calves supplemented or not with concentrate.

ABSTRACT: Most of the research efforts involving the bovine gastrointestinal microbiota have focused on cattle's forestomach, particularly the rumen, so information concerning the bovine fecal microbiota is more scarce, especially in young beef cattle. The present study was performed to evaluate the ruminal and fecal microbiotas of beef calves as they reached the end of their nursing phase. A total of 18 Angus cow/calf pairs were selected and assigned to one of two treatment groups for the last 92 days of the calves' nursing period, as follows: 1) calves were supplemented with concentrate in a creep feeding system; or 2) control group with no supplementation of calves. After 92 days, ruminal and fecal samples were individually obtained from calves in both groups, and their microbiotas were evaluated using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Ruminal samples were predominated by Prevotella (18 to 23% of the total bacterial abundance), regardless if calves received supplementation or not; however, in the feces, Prevotella was only the seventh most abundant genus (0.6 to 2.1% of total bacterial abundance). Both the rumen (P = 0.01) and the feces (P = 0.05) of calves that received supplementation had greater abundance of Firmicutes. In addition, calves that were supplemented had lower abundance of Fibrobacteres (P = 0.03) in their rumens. Regardless if the calves were supplemented or not, Faith's Phylogenetic Diversity index (P ? 0.007) and total concentration of short chain fatty acids (P < 0.001) were both greater in the rumen than in the feces of calves. In summary, the ruminal and fecal microbiotas of weanling beef calves were considerably distinct. Additionally, supplementation with creep feed caused some significant changes in the composition of the gastrointestinal microbiota of the calves, especially in the rumen, where supplementation caused an increase in Firmicutes and a decrease in abundance of Fibrobacteres.

SUBMITTER: Lourenco JM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7153887 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Comparison of the ruminal and fecal microbiotas in beef calves supplemented or not with concentrate.

Lourenco Jeferson M JM Kieran Troy J TJ Seidel Darren S DS Glenn Travis C TC Silveira Magali F da MFD Callaway Todd R TR Stewart R Lawton RL

PloS one 20200413 4

Most of the research efforts involving the bovine gastrointestinal microbiota have focused on cattle's forestomach, particularly the rumen, so information concerning the bovine fecal microbiota is more scarce, especially in young beef cattle. The present study was performed to evaluate the ruminal and fecal microbiotas of beef calves as they reached the end of their nursing phase. A total of 18 Angus cow/calf pairs were selected and assigned to one of two treatment groups for the last 92 days of ...[more]

PMID: 32282837

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Project description:A study was conducted to examine the effects of supplementing beef calves during their suckling phase (popularly known as creep feeding) with supplements that contained or did not contain the enzyme xylanase. Forty-two cow-calf pairs were divided into three groups and assigned to one of three treatments for a period of 105 days, as follows: (1) No supplemental feed for calves (control; CON); (2) Corn and soybean meal-based supplement feed for calves (positive control; PCON); and (3) Same feed regimen as PCON with xylanase added to the supplement (enzyme; ENZ). After 105 days, out of the 42 calves participating in the study, 25 male calves were randomly selected (8 from CON, 9 from PCON, and 8 from ENZ) and samples of their forestomach were collected by esophageal tubing. Immediately after this procedure, all calves were weaned, commingled, and placed in a common post-weaning diet for 4 weeks. At the end of this period, ruminal fluid was once again collected from the same 25 calves. All samples were subjected to DNA extraction and 16S rRNA gene sequencing. At weaning, most of the alpha diversity indexes were greater in CON; however, no differences (P ≥ 0.23) in alpha diversity were observed in samples collected 4 weeks after weaning. Regardless of treatment, 2 phyla - Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes - comprised approximately 80% of the total bacterial abundance of samples collected on both days. At the genus level, an effect of diet (P = 0.02) was observed for Prevotella in the samples collected at weaning; however, no differences were detected in the samples collected 4 weeks after weaning. Calf average daily gain (ADG) during the 105-day creep feeding trial tended (P = 0.09) to be greater in the groups that received supplementation, with the greatest numerical value observed in ENZ. Moreover, there was a positive correlation (ρ = 0.43; P = 0.03) between ADG and abundance of Prevotella, indicating the importance of this bacterial group for ruminants. In summary, most of the significant differences found in this study were detected at weaning, and the majority of them disappeared 4 weeks after the calves were weaned and commingled.

Project description:BackgroundThe majority of chicken microbiota studies have used the ceca as a sampling site due to the specific role of ceca in chicken productivity, health and wellbeing. However, sampling from ceca and other gastrointestinal tract sections requires the bird to be sacrificed. In contrast, fecal sampling does not require sacrifice and thus allows the same bird to be sampled repeatedly over time. This is a more meaningful and preferred way of sampling as the same animals can be monitored and tracked for temporal studies. The commonly used practice of selecting a subset of birds at each time-point for sacrifice and sampling introduces added variability due to the known animal to animal variation in microbiota.ResultsCecal samples and fecal samples via cloacal swab were collected from 163 birds across 3 replicate trials. DNA was extracted and 16S rRNA gene sequences amplified and pyrosequenced to determine and compare the phylogenetic profile of the microbiota within each sample. The fecal and cecal samples were investigated to determine to what extent the microbiota found in fecal samples represented the microbiota of the ceca. It was found that 88.55% of all operational taxonomic units (OTUs), containing 99.25% of all sequences, were shared between the two sample types, with OTUs unique for each sample type found to be very rare. There was a positive correlation between cecal and fecal abundance in the shared sequences, however the two communities differed significantly in community structure, represented as either alpha or beta diversity. The microbial populations present within the paired ceca of individual birds were also compared and shown to be similar.ConclusionsFecal sample analysis captures a large percentage of the microbial diversity present in the ceca. However, the qualitative similarities in OTU presence are not a good representation of the proportions of OTUs within the microbiota from each sampling site. The fecal microbiota is qualitatively similar to cecal microbiota but quantitatively different. Fecal samples can be effectively used to detect some shifts and responses of cecal microbiota.

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Dataset Information

Comparison of the ruminal and fecal microbiotas in beef calves supplemented or not with concentrate.

Publications

Comparison of the ruminal and fecal microbiotas in beef calves supplemented or not with concentrate.

Similar Datasets

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