Effect of Environmental Factors and Influence of Rumen and Hindgut Biogeography on Bacterial Communities in Steers

Abstract

Feces from cattle production are considered important sources of bacterial contamination of food and the environment. Little is known about the combined effects of arctic temperatures and fodder tannins on rumen and hindgut bacterial populations. Individual rumen liquor and rectal fecal samples from donor steers fed either alfalfa silage or sainfoin (Onobrychis viciifolia Scop.) silage and water ad libitum were collected weekly on the first three sampling days and fortnightly afterwards. The daily ambient temperatures were registered and averaged to weekly mean temperatures. Steers fed sainfoin silage had lower (P < 0.05) concentrations of branched-chain volatile fatty acids (VFA) than those fed alfalfa silage. All VFA concentrations were higher (P < 0.001) in rumen liquor samples than in fecal samples. The interaction of sample type and diet showed a significant effect (P < 0.05) on the proportions of the bacterial community that were from the phyla Proteobacteria and Verrucomicrobia. Ambient temperature had an indirect effect (P < 0.05) on the phylum Firmicutes, as it affected its proportional balance. The bacterial population diversity in samples appeared to decrease concurrently with the ambient temperature. The phylum Firmicutes explained the first principal component at 64.83 and 42.58% of the total variance in rumen liquor and fecal samples, respectively. The sample type had a larger effect on bacterial communities than diet and temperature. Certain bacterial populations seemed to be better adapted than others to environmentally adverse conditions, such as less access time to nutrients due to higher motility and rate of passage of digesta caused by extreme temperatures, or antimicrobials such as tannins, possibly due to an influence of their biogeographical location within the gut.

Effects of a tannin-rich legume (Onobrychis viciifolia) on in vitro ruminal biohydrogenation and fermentation

“…Depending on the basal diet composition, this effect may be clearly advantageous for the animal, increasing the flow of non-degraded protein to the intestine. Romero-Pérez et al (2011) reported similar findings in an in vitro study conducted with rumen inoculum from cows fed alfalfa or sainfoin silages.…”

“…In contrast to the consistent action of tannins on ruminal ammonia concentration, reports on the response of VFA to these secondary compounds are highly variable, with reductions, no effects and even increases in their production (e.g., Frutos et al, 2004a;Tiemann et al, 2008;Romero-Pérez et al, 2011). This discrepancy is even stronger when referred to individual VFA.…”

The use of direct-fed microbials for mitigation of ruminant methane emissions: a review

“…Several clone libraries of rumen samples reported significant numbers of bacteria belonging to the phylum Verrucomicrobia (Romero-Perez et al, 2011;Godoy-Vitorino et al, 2012). Although their role in the rumen is not well understood, some members of the Verrucomicrobia have been found to oxidise CH 4 as the sole source of carbon and energy in non-rumen environments (Hou et al, 2008).…”

Impact of Feed Efficiency and Diet on Adaptive Variations in the Bacterial Community in the Rumen Fluid of Cattle

“…Previous research has demonstrated that many factors influence the composition of rumen microbiota, affecting the population of certain bacterial groups (18,22,23,43). Microbial diversity and activities have also been influenced by modifications to the diet (11, 51).…”