Grazing and Supplementation of Dietary Yeast Probiotics Shape the Gut Microbiota and Improve the Immunity of Black Fattening Goats (Capra hircus).

Min Zhang,Xiaobo Dan,Chaorui Xiong,Yang Ji,Hao Guan,Bin Zhang,Yaqiu Lin,Xiaolan Wei,Chunmei Li,Yueda Aguo,Jiangjiang Zhu,Lin Zhang,Quzhe Emu,Jinsheng Fan,Bo Li,Chao Yang

doi:10.3389/fmicb.2021.666837

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the effects of different feeding modes on the growth performance, gut microbiota, and immunity of Black Fattening Goat (Capra hircus). A total of 30 goats were grouped in three groups by their feeding modes (pasture grazing group, PG; barn feeding group, BF; barn feeding + probiotics, BF + P; n = 10) and the study was performed for 114 days. After a 2-week adaptation period, the first growth performance test was conducted, and the blood and fecal samplings (day 0) were collected on January 17, 2020, while the second and third test and samplings were conducted on days 53 and 100 of feeding. The species-composition of fecal microbiota was analyzed by 16S ribosomal RNA gene-sequencing using PacBio single molecule real time (SMRT) sequencing technology. Both the BF and BF + P groups had the highest (P < 0.05) body’s weight and length, and chest circumference at days 53 and 100, especially at day 100, the body’s weight of both the BF groups were more than 18 kg. The levels of immunoglobulin A (IgA) and immunoglobulin G (IgG) were found to be significantly higher (P < 0.05) in the PG and BF + P groups at day 100. The PG group exhibited the highest number of operational taxonomic unit (OTUs) and alpha diversity. Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, and Verrucomicrobia were the predominant phyla in all the fecal samples. The relative abundance of Akkermansia muciniphila and Ruminococcus flavefaciens were found to be significantly higher (P < 0.05) in PG group and BF + P group at day 100, respectively, which might partially explain the significantly higher (P < 0.05) levels of IgA and IgG in these two groups. These findings suggested that BF supplemented with 5 g probiotics (Saccharomyces cerevisiae and mannan oligosaccharides) per day has the potential to enhance the growth and immunity of Black Fattening Goats.

Highlights

Gut microbiota has been recognized as an intersection between diet and human health, as highlighted in many studies (Murphy et al, 2010; Gentile and Weir, 2018; Mshelia et al, 2018)
This study aimed to investigate the effect of different feeding modes [pasture grazing (PG), barn feeding (BF), and barn feeding + probiotics (BF + P)] on the growth performance, gut microbiota, and immunity of Black Fattening Goats
Through the overall analysis two-way repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA), it was concluded that different treatments and periods and their interaction had significant effects on the body weight and chest circumference of goats (P < 0.05)

Summary

Introduction

Gut microbiota has been recognized as an intersection between diet and human health, as highlighted in many studies (Murphy et al, 2010; Gentile and Weir, 2018; Mshelia et al, 2018). There are extremely significant differences among the diversity and richness of gut microbiota of horses (Mshelia et al, 2018), rats (Rolim et al, 2021), geese (Wang et al, 2020), cows (Uchiyama et al, 2020), and goats (Liu et al, 2020). A couple of studies demonstrated the changes in rumen microbiota during the transition from forage to concentrate diets in cows (Fernando et al, 2010; Zhu et al, 2017). These inconsistent results suggest that the diet affects the ruminant’s gut microbiota, but the degree of effect may depend on the type of diet

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