Evaluating Starter Feeding on Ruminal Function in Yak Calves: Combined 16S rRNA Sequencing and Metabolomics

作者：Yin Wang, Hongze Xia, Qi‐En Yang, Deyu Yang, Shujie Liu, Zhanhong Cui · 发表于：Frontiers in Microbiology · 年份：2022 · DOI：10.3389/fmicb.2022.821613 · 被引用次数：29 · 研究领域：Ruminant Nutrition and Digestive Physiology、Gut microbiota and health、Reproductive Physiology in Livestock

For young ruminants, starter feeding can effectively facilitate the growth and development of rumen in ruminants, but the development of rumen is an important physiological challenge as it remains unclear for the mechanism of starter feeding stimulating. In this study, we performed an analysis of ruminal microbiota and their metabolites in yak calves to explore how the ruminal microbiota and their metabolites stimulate the ruminal function. This study associated 16S rRNA sequencing with liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS)-based metabolomics to evaluate the effects of starter feeding on ruminal microbiota diversity and metabolites in yak calves. We designed the experiment using 20 yak calves that were assigned equally into 2 groups, based on feeding milk replacer; the control (RA) group was fed with alfalfa hay while the treatment (RAS) group was fed with alfalfa hay and starter. After the experiment, we investigated the ruminal microbiota and metabolites through 16S rRNA sequencing and LC-MS-based metabolomics. During the preweaning period, the RAS group significantly promoted the growth performance and ruminal development in yak calves, including increases in body weight, chest girth, and development of rumen ( P < 0.05). The RAS group increased the relative abundance of Bacteroidota , Proteobacteria , Chloroflexi, Synergistota , and Spirochaetota and decreased the abundance of Firmicutes , Desulfobacterota , Actinobacteriota , and Actinobacteriota at the ...