Abstract
Bacterial dysbiosis as a result of nutritional, bacterial, viral, and parasitic gastrointestinal infections can adversely affect the metabolism, productivity, and overall health of cattle. The purpose of this project was to characterize the commensal microbiota present in two locations of the rumen concomitantly in vivo with the animals undergoing habitual husbandry, as it was hypothesized that there are major differences in the commensal microbiota present in the two locations of the adult bovine major forestomach. A surgically fitted rumen cannula was used to allow ruminal lumen contents and mucosal biopsies to be collected from six crossbred yearling steers. In order to assess as much environmental and individual steer microbiota variation as possible, each animal was randomly sampled three times over a 3 week period. 16S rRNA sequencing was performed to provide a detailed descriptive analysis from phylum to genus taxonomic level. Significant differences were observed between luminal and epimural bacterial populations in the bovine rumen. As expected, a core microbiome composed by Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes represented over 90% of the microbiome, however, further analysis showed distinct diversity and distribution of the microbiome between the two locations. Characterizing the gastrointestinal microbiome in vivo is imperative. The novelty and the contribution of this study to the literature is the use of live cattle which allowed real-time sample collections and analysis of the rumen microbiome providing an understanding of what is normal in the live animal.
Highlights
The ruminal bacterial population plays an important role in the dietary metabolism of the host, including nutrient consumption and utilization, and manipulation of the rumen microbiota is known to affect animal performance, production, sustainability and profitability [1]
Knowledge gaps are present with respect to the rumen epithelium and its unique interaction between host and microbial metabolism
Numerically significant differences obtained via target gene sequencing were demonstrated between luminal and epimural bacterial populations in the bovine rumen
Summary
The ruminal bacterial population plays an important role in the dietary metabolism of the host, including nutrient consumption and utilization, and manipulation of the rumen microbiota is known to affect animal performance, production, sustainability and profitability [1]. The commensal microbiome plays an important role in nutrient and energy extraction and energy regulation [2]. Rumen Luminal and Epithelial Microbiome microbiome and its impact on health, nutrition, and host physiological parameters have been studied [3–12]. Knowledge gaps are present with respect to the rumen epithelium and its unique interaction between host and microbial metabolism. Full understanding of the true commensal microbiome in cattle is still limited, especially with respect to what ensues at the epithelial surface of the rumen when cattle are undergoing normal husbandry
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