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

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 a...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Lourenco, Jeferson M., Kieran, Troy J., Seidel, Darren S., Glenn, Travis C., da Silveira, Magali F., Callaway, Todd R., Stewart, R. Lawton
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7153887/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32282837
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0231533
_version_ 1783521728852393984
author Lourenco, Jeferson M.
Kieran, Troy J.
Seidel, Darren S.
Glenn, Travis C.
da Silveira, Magali F.
Callaway, Todd R.
Stewart, R. Lawton
author_facet Lourenco, Jeferson M.
Kieran, Troy J.
Seidel, Darren S.
Glenn, Travis C.
da Silveira, Magali F.
Callaway, Todd R.
Stewart, R. Lawton
author_sort Lourenco, Jeferson M.
collection PubMed
description 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.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-7153887
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2020
publisher Public Library of Science
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-71538872020-04-16 Comparison of the ruminal and fecal microbiotas in beef calves supplemented or not with concentrate Lourenco, Jeferson M. Kieran, Troy J. Seidel, Darren S. Glenn, Travis C. da Silveira, Magali F. Callaway, Todd R. Stewart, R. Lawton PLoS One Research Article 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. Public Library of Science 2020-04-13 /pmc/articles/PMC7153887/ /pubmed/32282837 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0231533 Text en © 2020 Lourenco et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Lourenco, Jeferson M.
Kieran, Troy J.
Seidel, Darren S.
Glenn, Travis C.
da Silveira, Magali F.
Callaway, Todd R.
Stewart, R. Lawton
Comparison of the ruminal and fecal microbiotas in beef calves supplemented or not with concentrate
title Comparison of the ruminal and fecal microbiotas in beef calves supplemented or not with concentrate
title_full Comparison of the ruminal and fecal microbiotas in beef calves supplemented or not with concentrate
title_fullStr Comparison of the ruminal and fecal microbiotas in beef calves supplemented or not with concentrate
title_full_unstemmed Comparison of the ruminal and fecal microbiotas in beef calves supplemented or not with concentrate
title_short Comparison of the ruminal and fecal microbiotas in beef calves supplemented or not with concentrate
title_sort comparison of the ruminal and fecal microbiotas in beef calves supplemented or not with concentrate
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7153887/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32282837
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0231533
work_keys_str_mv AT lourencojefersonm comparisonoftheruminalandfecalmicrobiotasinbeefcalvessupplementedornotwithconcentrate
AT kierantroyj comparisonoftheruminalandfecalmicrobiotasinbeefcalvessupplementedornotwithconcentrate
AT seideldarrens comparisonoftheruminalandfecalmicrobiotasinbeefcalvessupplementedornotwithconcentrate
AT glenntravisc comparisonoftheruminalandfecalmicrobiotasinbeefcalvessupplementedornotwithconcentrate
AT dasilveiramagalif comparisonoftheruminalandfecalmicrobiotasinbeefcalvessupplementedornotwithconcentrate
AT callawaytoddr comparisonoftheruminalandfecalmicrobiotasinbeefcalvessupplementedornotwithconcentrate
AT stewartrlawton comparisonoftheruminalandfecalmicrobiotasinbeefcalvessupplementedornotwithconcentrate