Abstract
The importance of the microbiome for bovine udder health is not well explored and most of the knowledge originates from research on mastitis. Better understanding of the microbial diversity inside the healthy udder of lactating cows might help to reduce mastitis, use of antibiotics and improve animal welfare. In this study, we investigated the microbial diversity of over 400 quarter milk samples from 60 cows sampled from two farms and on two different occasions during the same lactation period. Microbiota analysis was performed using amplicon sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene and over 1000 isolates were identified using MALDI-TOF MS. We detected a high abundance of two bacterial families, Corynebacteriaceae and Staphylococcaceae, which accounted for almost 50% of the udder microbiota of healthy cows and were detected in all the cow udders and in more than 98% of quarter milk samples. A strong negative correlation between these bacterial families was detected indicating a possible competition. The overall composition of the udder microbiota was highly diverse and significantly different between cows and between quarter milk samples from the same cow. Furthermore, we introduced a novel definition of a dysbiotic quarter at individual cow level, by analyzing the milk microbiota, and a high frequency of dysbiotic quarter samples were detected distributed among the farms and the samples. These results emphasize the importance of deepening the studies of the bovine udder microbiome to elucidate its role in udder health.
Highlights
The importance of the microbiome for bovine udder health is not well explored and most of the knowledge originates from research on mastitis
All the cows were sampled during a single lactation period and the average days in milking (DIM) was 38 and 44 for farm A (“Centre for livestock production” at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences) and farm K (“Kalnes Upper Secondary School” farm), respectively in the first period and 213 and 222 during the second period
To explore the composition of the udder microbiota, amplicon sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene was performed for all the samples
Summary
The importance of the microbiome for bovine udder health is not well explored and most of the knowledge originates from research on mastitis. We introduced a novel definition of a dysbiotic quarter at individual cow level, by analyzing the milk microbiota, and a high frequency of dysbiotic quarter samples were detected distributed among the farms and the samples. These results emphasize the importance of deepening the studies of the bovine udder microbiome to elucidate its role in udder health. Taponen et al.[2] summarized several previous microbiota studies and showed that the results are so variable that an identification of a generic udder microbiome is not at present possible They explained how a variety of factors would affect the results, especially the method of sampling. They concluded that the contribution of external contamination of samples was a considerable problem when the bacterial load of the milk was low and this, in addition, made the removal of kit contaminations a challenge
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
