Maternal versus artificial rearing shapes the rumen microbiome having minor long-term physiological implications.

Alejandro Belanche,Gareth W Griffith,Charles J Newbold,Alison H Kingston‐Smith,David R Yáñez‐Ruiz,Andrew P Detheridge

doi:10.1111/1462-2920.14801

Alejandro Belanche, Gareth W Griffith + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1111/1462-2920.14801

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Journal: Environmental Microbiology	Publication Date: Oct 8, 2019
Citations: 34	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Aberystwyth University

Abstract

SummaryIncreasing productivity is a key target in ruminant science which requires better understanding of the rumen microbiota. This study investigated how maternal versus artificial rearing shapes the rumen microbiota using 24 sets of triplet lambs. Lambs within each sibling set were randomly assigned to natural rearing on the ewe (NN); ewe colostrum for 24 h followed by artificial milk feeding (NA); and colostrum alternative and artificial milk feeding (AA). Maternal colostrum feeding enhanced VFA production at weaning but not thereafter. At weaning, lambs reared on milk replacer had no rumen protozoa and lower microbial diversity, whereas natural rearing accelerated the rumen microbial development and facilitated the transition to solid diet. Differences in the rumen prokaryotic communities disappear later in life when all lambs were grouped on the same pasture up to 23 weeks of age. However, NN animals retained higher fungal diversity and abundances of Piromyces, Feramyces and Diplodiniinae protozoa as well as higher feed digestibility (+4%) and animal growth (+6.5%) during the grazing period. Nevertheless, no correlations were found between rumen microbiota and productive outcomes. These findings suggest that the early life nutritional intervention determine the initial rumen microbial community, but the persistence of these effects later in life is weak.

Highlights

Ruminants are unique among livestock species in that they convert non-human edible forages to human-edible protein
Lambs within each sibling set were randomly assigned to natural rearing on the ewe (NN); ewe colostrum for 24 h followed by artificial milk feeding (NA); and colostrum alternative and artificial milk feeding (AA)
Lambs reared on milk replacer had no rumen protozoa and lower microbial diversity, whereas natural rearing accelerated the rumen microbial development and facilitated the transition to solid diet

Summary

Introduction

Ruminants are unique among livestock species in that they convert non-human edible forages to human-edible protein This is due to the rumen, a foregut fermentation chamber housing a great diversity of bacteria, methanogens, protozoa and fungi which interact, both symbiotically and competitively, to ferment dietary fibre to meet the energy and protein requirements of the host. The effectiveness of such strategies appears limited and the results of these interventions are often inconsistent or short-lived due to high microbial redundancy (overlap of function among multiple species) and resilience (resistance to, and capacity to recover from, perturbation) in the rumen (Weimer, 2015) These factors make it difficult to modify a well established and fully matured microbial ecosystem in the rumen of adult animals (Zhou et al, 2018)

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