Abstract
The dynamics of the community structure and composition of the dairy cow fecal bacterial communities during early lactation is unclear, therefore this study was conducted to characterize the fecal bacterial communities in dairy cows during early lactation using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Feces were sampled from 20 healthy fresh Holstein dairy cows on day 1 (Fresh1d group) and day 14 (Fresh14d group) after calving. After calving, cows were fed the same fresh diet. The dominant phyla Firmicutes and Proteobacteria were decreased (P ≤ 0.01) with lactating progress and phyla Bacteroidetes were increased (P = 0.008) with lactating progress and dietary transition. At family level, the predominant families were Ruminococcaceae (35.23%), Lachnospiraceae (11.46%), Rikenellaceae (10.44%) and Prevotellaceae (6.89%). A total of 14 genera were different between fecal samples from Fresh1d and Fresh14d, included the predominant genera, such as Ruminococcaceae_UCG-005 (P = 0.008), Rikenellaceae_RC9_gut_group (P = 0.043) and Christensenellaceae_R-7_group (P = 0.008). All fecal bacterial communities shared members of the genera Ruminococcaceae_UCG-005, Bacteroides and Rikenellaceae_RC9_gut_group. These findings help to improve our understanding of the composition and structure of the fecal microbial community in fresh cows and may provide insight into bacterial adaptation time and dietary in lactating cows.
Highlights
The bovine gastrointestinal tract microbiota harbors lots of microbial species that play important roles in the health and productivity of ruminant (Bergmann 2017; Clemmons et al 2019; Myer et al 2015)
A significant decrease (P < 0.05) in operational taxonomic units (OTUs) number and Chao 1 was observed from d1 to d14, indicating significant changes in the diversity and richness of fecal microbiota as lactation progressed (Table 1)
none-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) based on Bray–Curtis distance showed a separation between Fresh1d and Fresh14d groups (Fig. 1)
Summary
The bovine gastrointestinal tract microbiota harbors lots of microbial species that play important roles in the health and productivity of ruminant (Bergmann 2017; Clemmons et al 2019; Myer et al 2015). These microbes are necessary for fermentation of ingested plant matter into compounds such as volatile fatty acids that act as energy sources for the host (Flint et al 2008). Another study compared the fecal microbiota of health and left-sided displacement of the abomasum and found a shift in fecal microbiota
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