The Temporal Dynamics of Rumen Microbiota in Early Weaned Lambs.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Wang S
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8779368 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:Colonization of gastrointestinal microbiota in mammals during early life is vital to host health. The objective of this study was to investigate whether lambs with high and low ADG have a different rumen and rectum microbial community. Thus, we investigated potential relationships between rumen and rectum microbiota and average daily gain (ADG) in weaned lambs. Sixteen lambs with similar body weights (7.63 ± 1.18 kg) were selected at 30 days of age. At 60 days of age, lambs were weaned, and ADG was calculated from 60 to 90 days. Then, two groups were generated: higher ADG (HG, 134.17 ± 13.48 g/day) and lower ADG (LG, 47.50 ± 19.51 g/day). Microbiota was evaluated at 30, 60, and 90 days of age. The final live weight and ADG at 90 days of age was higher (p < 0.05) in the HG group compared to the LG group. The maturity of bacterial and fungal communities was increased (p < 0.05) in the HG group for the 30 days vs. 90 days comparison and 60 days vs. 90 days comparison. Linear discriminant analysis effect size (LEfSe) analysis revealed a total of 18 bacterial biomarkers that are ADG-specific in the rumen and 35 bacterial biomarkers in the rectum. Meanwhile, 15 fungal biomarkers were found in the rumen and 8 biomarkers were found in the rectum. Our findings indicated that ADG is related to the rumen and rectum microbiota in lambs.
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Project description:Early weaning leads to weaning stress in calves, which hinders healthy growth and development. As an excellent sweetener applied in food, steviol glycosides (STE) has also been shown to exhibit positive biological activity in monogastric animals. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the impact of incorporating STE as a dietary supplement on rumen development, fermentation, and microbiota of rumen in weaned calves. This study selected 24 healthy Holstein bull calves and randomly allocated them into two groups (CON and STE). The results indicated that supplementation STE group improved rumen development in weaned calves, as demonstrated by a marked increase in the weight of the rumen, as well as the length and surface area of the rumen papilla. Compared with the CON group, the concentrations of total volatile fatty acids (TVFA), propionate, butyrate, and valerate were higher in the STE group. Moreover, STE treatment increased the relative abundance of Firmicutes and Actinobacteria at the phylum level. At the genus level, the STE group showed a significantly increased relative abundance of Succiniclasticum, Lachnospiraceae_NK3A20_group, and Olsenella, and a decreased relative abundance of Acinetobacter compared to the CON group. Pusillimonas, Lachnospiraceae_NK3A20_group, Olsenella, and Succiniclasticum were significantly enriched in rumen chyme after supplementation with STE, as demonstrated by LEfSe analysis. Overall, our findings revealed that rumen bacterial communities altered in response to the dietary supplementation with STE, and some bacterial taxa in these communities may have positive effects on rumen development during this period.
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Project description:Supplying sufficient nutrients, such as dietary energy and protein, has a great effect on the growth and rumen development of ruminants. This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of dietary energy and protein levels on growth performance, microbial diversity, and structural and physiological properties of the rumen in weaned lambs. A total of 64 two-month-old Hu lambs were randomly allotted to 2 × 2 factorial arrangements with four replicates and with four lambs (half male and half female) in each replicate. The first factor was two levels of dietary metabolizable energy (ME) density (ME = 10.9 MJ/Kg or 8.6 MJ/Kg), and the second factor was two levels of dietary crude protein (CP) content (CP = 15.7% or 11.8%). The trial lasted for 60 days. A low dietary energy level restrained the growth performance of lambs (p < 0.05). The ruminal concentration of acetate and the ratio of acetate to propionate increased but the propionate concentration decreased significantly with the low energy diet. However, the rumen morphology was not affected by the diet energy and protein levels. Moreover, a low energy diet increased ruminal bacterial diversity but reduced the abundance of the phylum Proteobacteria (p < 0.05) and genus Succinivibrionaceae_uncultured (p < 0.05), which was associated with the change in ruminal fermentation phenotypes. By indicator species analysis, we found three indicator OTUs in the high energy group (Succinivibrionaceae_uncultured, Veillonellaceae_unclassified and Veillonellaceae_uncultured (p < 0.01)) and two indicator OTUs in the low energy group (Bacteroidales_norank and Lachnospiraceae_uncultured (p < 0.01)). In conclusion, these findings added new dimensions to our understanding of the diet effect on rumen microbial community and fermentation response, and are of great significance for establishing the optimal nutrient supply strategy for lambs.
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Project description:The pre-weaning period is crucial for rumen developmental plasticity, which can have a long-term impact on animal performance. Understanding the rumen microbiota during early life is important to elucidate its potential role in rumen development. In this study, the rumen microbiota of 10-day-old Hu lambs fed either milk replacer (B-10), milk replacer and starter (STA) or milk replacer and starter supplemented with alfalfa (S-ALF) in the pre- (d17, 24, and 38) and post-weaning periods (d45 and 66) were assessed to characterize rumen microbial colonization during early life and its response to fiber intervention. In the rumens of B-10 lambs, 498 operational taxonomic units belonging to 33 predominant genera were observed, and the top six predicted functions included "Membrane transport," "carbohydrate metabolism," "amino acid metabolism," "replication and repair," "translation," and "energy metabolism." Prevotella, Succinivibrio, Bifidobacterium, and Butyrivibrio abundances were increased at d38 for both STA and S-ALF groups compared to the B-10 group, whereas fibrolytic bacteria of the taxa Lachnospiraceae and Treponema were only increased in the S-ALF group at d38. A number of saccharolytic bacteria (Bacteroidaceae), organic acid-producing bacteria (Coprococcus and Actinomyces), proteolytic and amino acid fermenters (Fusobacterium) and fibrolytic bacteria (unclassified Ruminococcaceae) were significantly decreased in the STA lambs but not in the S-ALF lambs at d38. After weaning and exposed to alfalfa, the rumen microbial composition in the STA group started to appear similar to that of the S-ALF lambs. The relative abundance of unclassified Clostridiales was higher in S-ALF lambs than STA lambs after weaning. Spearman's correlation analysis showed positive relationships between unclassified Lachnospiraceae, unclassified Clostridiales, Treponema, unclassified Bacteroidales, Coprococcus and crude protein intake, neutral detergent fiber intake, and plasma β-hydroxybutyrate. The unclassified Lachnospiraceae and Treponema were also positively correlated with average daily gain. Our results revealed that alfalfa stimulated changes in rumen microbiota during the pre- and post-weaning periods and was consistent with rumen development for better feed intake and animal performance before and after weaning. The findings of this study provide clues for strategies to improve rumen function through manipulation of the rumen microbiota during early life.
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Project description:The rumen microbiota is vital for the health and growth performance of the host animal, mainly due to its role in the fermentation of ingested feed within the rumen. Attaining a better understanding of the development of the bacterial community and fermentation in the rumen can provide the theoretical basis for regulating feed utilization. This study analyzed the development of rumen bacteria in lambs from birth to 4 months of age using 16S-rRNA amplicon sequencing data and studied its relationship with ruminal fermentation. Serum levels of metabolites were monitored at 30, 60, 90, and 120 days of age, and the RandomForest approach was used to determine age-related changes in rumen bacteria. Levels of blood metabolites, ruminal fermentation, the rumen bacterial community and its functions were all affected by the age of the lambs (P < 0.05). Based on the Bray-Curtis distance within the age groups of the rumen microbiota, the similarity increased sharply after the lambs were weaned at 60 days of age (P < 0.05). The similarity between the samples collected from birth to 90 days of age and those collected at 120 days of age, increased after 20 days of age, reaching a maximum at 90 days vs. 120 days (P < 0.05). Some age-associated changes in the microbial genera were correlated with changes in the concentrations of volatile fatty acids and the levels of microbial crude protein in the rumen, including positive correlations between main volatile fatty acids and the genera of Prevotella 1, Lachnospiraceae NK3A20 group, Ruminococcus gauvreauii group, Ruminococcaceae UCG-014, and Ruminococcus 2 (P < 0.05). These results indicated that the microbial community and the function of rumen was not well-established before 20 days of age, so there is a degree of plasticity in the rumen bacterial community during the first 20 days of post-natal development in lambs, and this might provide an opportunity for interventions to improve rumen fermentation and, thus, increase their growth performance.
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Project description:Early consumption of starter feed promotes rumen development in lambs. We examined rumen development in lambs fed starter feed for 5 weeks using histological and biochemical analyses and by performing high-throughput sequencing in rumen tissues. Additionally, rumen contents of starter feed-fed lambs were compared to those of breast milk-fed controls. Our physiological and biochemical findings revealed that early starter consumption facilitated rumen development, changed the pattern of ruminal fermentation, and increased the amylase and carboxymethylcellulase activities of rumen micro-organisms. RNA-seq analysis revealed 225 differentially expressed genes between the rumens of breast milk- and starter feed-fed lambs. These DEGs were involved in many metabolic pathways, particularly lipid and carbohydrate metabolism, and included HMGCL and HMGCS2. Sequencing analysis of 16S rRNA genes revealed that ruminal bacterial communities were more diverse in breast milk-than in starter feed-fed lambs, and each group had a distinct microbiota. We conclude that early starter feeding is beneficial to rumen development and physiological function in lambs. The underlying mechanism may involve the stimulation of ruminal ketogenesis and butanoate metabolism via HMGCL and HMGCS2 combined with changes in the fermentation type induced by ruminal microbiota. Overall, this study provides insights into the molecular mechanisms of rumen development in sheep.
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Project description:The gut microbiota is highly symbiotic with the host, and the microbiota and its metabolites are essential for regulating host health and physiological functions. Astragalus, as a feed additive, can improve animal immunity. However, the effects of Astragalus root powder on the rumen microbiota and their metabolites in lambs are not apparent. In this study, thirty healthy Hu sheep lambs with similar body weights (17.42 ± 2.02 kg) were randomly selected for the feeding experiment. Lambs were fed diets supplemented with 0.3% Astragalus root powder, and the rumen microbiota density and metabolome were measured to determine the effects of Astragalus on the health of lambs in the rumen. The results showed that the relative abundance of Butyrivibrio fibrisolvens (Bf), Ruminococcus flavefaciens (Rf), Succiniclasticum (Su), and Prevotella (Pr) in the rumen was increased in the Astragalus group (p < 0.01), and metabolic profiling showed that the metabolites, such as L-lyrosine and L-leucine, were upregulated in the Astragalus group (p < 0.01). KEGG functional annotation revealed that upregulated metabolites were mainly enriched in the pathways of amino acid metabolism, lipid metabolism, fatty acid biosynthesis, and bile secretion in the Astragalus group, and downregulated metabolites were enriched in the pathways of methane metabolism and other pathways. Correlation analysis revealed that butyric acid was positively correlated with Roseburia and Blautia (p < 0.05) and negatively correlated with Desulfovibrio (p < 0.05). Thus, by analyzing the interactions of Astragalus root powder with the density of rumen microorganisms and their metabolites in lambs, it was shown that Astragalus root powder could improve the structure of rumen microbiota and their metabolites and then participate in the regulation of amino acid metabolism, lipid metabolism, immune metabolism, and other pathways to improve the efficiency of energy absorption of the lambs.
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Project description:Modulating the assembly of the ruminal microbiota might have practical implications in production. We tested how an early-life dietary intervention in lambs influences the diversity and function of the ruminal microbiota during and after the intervention. Microbiota resilience during a repeated dietary intervention was also tested. The treatment, aiming to mitigate enteric methane emissions, combined garlic essential oil and linseed oil. Fifty-six lambs and their dams were allocated to two groups and treatment (T1) or placebo (C1) was drenched from birth until 10 weeks of life. Lambs were weaned at 8 weeks. From 16 to 20 weeks, lambs in each group were divided in two subgroups that received (T1-T2 and C1-T2) or not (T1-C2 and C1-C2) the same treatment. Measurements were done at 8, 14, and 20 weeks. Average daily gain was similar between groups. Methane production was reduced by treatment at 8 and 20 weeks but at 14 weeks it was similar between C1 and T1. Interestingly, early-life treated lambs displayed a numerical increase (P = 0.12) in methane emissions at 20 weeks compared with non-treated lambs. Concentration of VFA was not affected by the intervention at 8 or 14 weeks but a lower concentration was observed in T2 lambs compared with C2 at week 20. Metataxonomics (rRNA gene) revealed differences in archaeal communities between groups of lambs when treatment was applied (weeks 8 and 20); whereas, in accord with methane emissions, these differences disappeared when treatment was discontinued (week 14). Protozoal community structure was not affected by treatment. In contrast, bacterial community structure differed between treated and non-treated lambs during and after the intervention. Rumen and urine LC-MS and NMR metabolomics at week 20 separated C2 from T2 lambs and correlation analysis highlighted interactions between microbes and metabolites, notably that of methylated compounds and Methanomassiliicocceae methanogens. This study demonstrates that a long-term early-life intervention induced modifications in the composition of the rumen bacterial community that persisted after the intervention ceased with little or no effect on archaeal and protozoal communities. However, there was no persistency of the early-life intervention on methanogenesis indicating resilience for this function.
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Project description:The rumen microbiota is an essential part of ruminants shaping their nutrition and health. Despite its importance, it is not fully understood how various groups of rumen microbes affect host-microbe relationships and functions. The aim of the study was to simultaneously explore the rumen microbiota and the metabolic phenotype of lambs for identifying host-microbe associations and potential biomarkers of digestive functions. Twin lambs, separated in two groups after birth were exposed to practices (isolation and gavage with rumen fluid with protozoa or protozoa-depleted) that differentially restricted the acquisition of microbes. Rumen microbiota, fermentation parameters, digestibility and growth were monitored for up to 31 weeks of age. Microbiota assembled in isolation from other ruminants lacked protozoa and had low bacterial and archaeal diversity whereas digestibility was not affected. Exposure to adult sheep microbiota increased bacterial and archaeal diversity independently of protozoa presence. For archaea, Methanomassiliicoccales displaced Methanosphaera. Notwithstanding, protozoa induced differences in functional traits such as digestibility and significantly shaped bacterial community structure, notably Ruminococcaceae and Lachnospiraceae lower up to 6 folds, Prevotellaceae lower by ~40%, and Clostridiaceae and Veillonellaceae higher up to 10 folds compared to microbiota without protozoa. An orthogonal partial least squares-discriminant analysis of urinary metabolome matched differences in microbiota structure. Discriminant metabolites were mainly involved in amino acids and protein metabolic pathways while a negative interaction was observed between methylotrophic methanogens Methanomassiliicoccales and trimethylamine N-oxide. These results stress the influence of gut microbes on animal phenotype and show the potential of metabolomics for monitoring rumen microbial functions.
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