Abstract #M288
Section: Ruminant Nutrition (posters)
Session: Ruminant Nutrition I
Format: Poster
Day/Time: Monday 7:30 AM–9:30 AM
Location: Exhibit Hall A
Session: Ruminant Nutrition I
Format: Poster
Day/Time: Monday 7:30 AM–9:30 AM
Location: Exhibit Hall A
# M288
Repeated inoculation of young calves failed to modulate rumen microbiota consistently but lowered diarrhea.
Lingling Wang1, Lu Ma2,3, Xin Zhang2, Jianchu Xu2,3, Zhongtang Yu1, Dengpan Bu*2,4, 1Department of Animal Sciences, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 2State Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition, Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China, 3CAAS-ICRAF Joint Lab on Agroforestry and Sustainable Animal Husbandry, World Agroforestry Centre, East and Central Asia, Beijing, China, 4Hunan Co-Innovation Center of Safety Animal Production, Changsha, Hunan, China.
Key Words: calf, oral inoculation, rumen microbiota
Repeated inoculation of young calves failed to modulate rumen microbiota consistently but lowered diarrhea.
Lingling Wang1, Lu Ma2,3, Xin Zhang2, Jianchu Xu2,3, Zhongtang Yu1, Dengpan Bu*2,4, 1Department of Animal Sciences, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 2State Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition, Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China, 3CAAS-ICRAF Joint Lab on Agroforestry and Sustainable Animal Husbandry, World Agroforestry Centre, East and Central Asia, Beijing, China, 4Hunan Co-Innovation Center of Safety Animal Production, Changsha, Hunan, China.
The complex rumen microbiota exhibits some host specificity. The undeveloped simple rumen microbiota is hypothetically more amendable. The objective of this study was to investigate if the rumen microbial assemblage of young calves can be shaped by oral inoculation with rumen fluid of adult cows. Fresh rumen fluid collected from 4 donor cattle served as the inoculum for 4 groups (n = 5) of newborn calves. Each calf was drenched at d 3, d 7, d 21, d 42, and d 50 with 100, 200, 300, 400, or 500 mL inoculum, respectively. Two of the 4 calf groups received fresh rumen fluid, while the other 2 received autoclaved rumen fluid. The fresh rumen fluid did not affect (P > 0.05) feed intake, body growth, heart girth, or feed/BW ratio. However, fresh rumen fluid significantly (P < 0.01) lowered instance of diarrhea. At the age of 77 d, rumen fluid samples were collected from all the calves and subjected to analysis for fermentation characteristics and to microbiota characterization. Fermentation characteristics were not affected. Amplicon sequencing of the V4-V5 region of the 16S rRNA genes using MiSeq followed with sequences analysis using Qiime showed that donor adult cattle as expected had a more diverse microbiota than the calves, which had a rumen microbiota distinct from that of the donors. Two Succinivibrionaceae OTUs, 2 Prevotella OTUs, and one Succiniclasticum OTU were predominant (relative abundance > 2%) in the donors, but only one Succinivibrionaceae OTU was found in the calves. On the other hand, 5 other Prevotella OTUs were predominant (>3%) in the calves, but none of them was a major OTU in the donors. No correlation was observed in relative abundance of major OTUs or genera between the donor and the calves. Principal coordinates analysis of weighted UniFrac distance showed no significant difference in microbiota profiles among the 4 calf groups. None of the calf rumen microbiota showed any clustering with their donor’s. Repeated oral inoculation with rumen fluid probably has little effect on the development of rumen microbiota, and the rumen microbiota seems to develop following a program determined by the host and other factors.
Key Words: calf, oral inoculation, rumen microbiota
