Abstract
Microbial fermentation in the hindgut is likely an important contributor to energy availability in ruminants, except for the rumen. This study aimed to investigate commensal bacteria in the colon influenced by diverse dietary niches. Fifteen male sheep were randomly allotted into three feeding groups: non-pelleted low-grain (CON, n = 5), non-pelleted high-grain (HG, n = 5), and pelleted high-grain (HP, n = 5) diets. The HG and HP groups had higher fermentation parameters than the CON group, especially acetate concentration (CON = 46.91; HG = 61.66; HP = 77.99). The HG diet altered the composition of commensal bacteria in the colon in comparison to the CON group, including the increase of genera related to acetate production (e.g., Acetitomaculum spp.), butyrate production (e.g., Coprococcus spp. and Subdoligranulum spp.), and starch degradation (e.g., Prevotella spp., Roseburia spp., and Oscillibacter spp.). The colon functional compendium had co-alteration with taxonomic changes that indicated non-pelleted HG diet caused a detrimental colonic niche. The HP diet specifically promoted the abundance of Ruminococcus, Olsenella, and Alloprevotella genera to achieve the highest acetate concentration and decreased the starch-degrader Roseburia spp. and Oscillibacter spp. in contrast to the HG group. Our results provide a systematic view of the microbial fermentation, community, and functional guilds in colonic digesta and mucosa in regard to using an HP diet to maintain colonic niche homeostasis under the adverse influence of the HG diet.
Key Points
• Non-pelleted and pelleted high-grain diets altered sheep colonic fermentation.
• Non-pelleted and pelleted high-grain diets resulted in diverse microbial composition.
• The pelleted method ameliorated microbial functions compared with the high-grain diet.
Graphical abstract
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Data availability
For all the samples, the 16S rRNA gene sequencing data were submitted to the National Center for Biotechnology Information Sequence Read Archive under the accession number PRJNA579961 for mucosa-associated bacteria and PRJNA606484 for digesta-associated bacteria.
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The authors are grateful to Jiangsu Agriculture Science and Technology Innovation Fund (CX (19) 1006).
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SM was responsible for study design. LL, EBT, and FX carried out all the experiments. LL analyzed the data and wrote the manuscript. FX and SM revised the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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In this research, by the Animal Care and Use Committee of Nanjing Agricultural University (SYXK(Su)2015-0656), the experimental schemes were authorized abiding the obligations of the Administration of Experimental Animals Affairs (The State Science and Technology Commission of P. R. of China, 1988).
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Lin, L., Trabi, E.B., Xie, F. et al. Comparison of the fermentation and bacterial community in the colon of Hu sheep fed a low-grain, non-pelleted, or pelleted high-grain diet. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 105, 2071–2080 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-021-11158-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-021-11158-5