Abstract
The aim of this study was to determine the microbial community composition in the rumen of yaks under different feeding regimes. Microbial communities were assessed by sequencing bacterial and archaeal 16S ribosomal RNA gene fragments obtained from yaks (Bos grunniens) from Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, China. Samples were obtained from 14 animals allocated to either pasture grazing (Graze), a grazing and supplementary feeding regime (GSF), or an indoor feeding regime (Feed). The predominant bacterial phyla across feeding regimes were Bacteroidetes (51.06%) and Firmicutes (32.73%). At genus level, 25 genera were shared across all samples. The relative abundance of Prevotella in the graze and GSF regime group were significantly higher than that in the feed regime group. Meanwhile, the relative abundance of Ruminococcus was lower in the graze group than the feed and GSF regime groups. The most abundant archaeal phylum was Euryarchaeota, which accounted for 99.67% of the sequences. Ten genera were detected across feeding regimes, seven genera were shared by all samples, and the most abundant was genus Methanobrevibacter (91.60%). The relative abundance of the most detected genera were similar across feeding regime groups. Our results suggest that the ruminal bacterial community structure differs across yak feeding regimes while the archaeal community structures are largely similar.
Highlights
Yak (Bos grunniens) grazing has been the dominant pasture use on the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau, which providing sustenance for pastoralists and products for trade
We examined animals subject to three distinctive feeding regimes to search for a core microbiome i.e., bacterial and archaeal taxa found across feeding regimes
We found 19 distinct phyla across feeding regimes; the most abundant were Bacteroidetes (51.06%) and Firmicutes (32.73%)
Summary
Yak (Bos grunniens) grazing has been the dominant pasture use on the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau, which providing sustenance for pastoralists and products for trade. Given the altitude of this unique habitat (i.e., 4,000 to 5,500 m), yaks are adapted to harsh weather conditions. They traditionally graze in herds, and ingest grasses and/or herbs as their sole source of nutrition. Surveys by the Chinese government and ecologists have identified that most of the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau alpine meadow are overgrazed or degraded (Wang and Fu, 2004; Klein et al, 2007; Harris et al, 2015; Miao et al, 2015). Other more developed management strategies, such as rotation grazing, supplementary feeding and indoor fence feeding, may improve the sustainability of grassland use
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