Manipulating the rumen microbiome to address challenges facing Australasian dairy farming

Abstract

As dairy production systems expand globally, there is an increasing need to reduce the impact of dairy wastes on the environment by decreasing urinary N output and reducing emissions of green-house gasses (GHG). An understanding of rumen microbiome composition can result in the development of strategies that reduce methane emissions and nitrogen leakage, ultimately lowering the impact of dairying on the environment, while improving animal productivity. The strongest driver of the composition of the rumen microbiome was found to be the diet of the host animal. Thus, dietary manipulation offers a viable solution to alter the microbiome to address present-day challenges faced by the dairy industry. In the present review, we discuss such strategies and provide insight into rumen microbiome changes that have resulted in reduced GHG emissions and improved animal productivity.

Disentangling the Complexity of the Rumen Microbial Diversity Through Fractionation Using a Sucrose Density Gradient

“…The modulation of the microbial community structure and function of the rumen has been an area of intense research, particularly in the development of food additives, probiotics, chemical compounds, and diets, which may lead to improved productivity and animal health, as well as the reduction of environmental impacts ( Fernando et al, 2010 ; Poulsen et al, 2013 ; van Lingen et al, 2017 ; Teoh et al, 2019 ; Petri et al, 2020 ; Stanton et al, 2020 ). Several recent studies have used the high-throughput sequencing of universal phylogenetic markers such as 16S rRNA gene to evaluate bacterial community shifts under different treatments ( Wang et al, 2017 ; Yang B. et al, 2018 ).…”

Characterization of alkaline stress tolerance mechanisms inLotusforage species modulated byPantoea eucalypti

“…The copyright holder for this preprint (which this version posted June 6, 2020. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.06.06.138230 doi: bioRxiv preprint [ 3 ] important forage quality trait that contributes to ruminant diet, preventing cattle bloat, improving protein fraction assimilation, reducing intestinal parasites and reducing enteric fermentation, thereby decreasing greenhouse gas production [8]. Because Lt lacks condensed tannins, it has been crossed with a wild diploid Lc accession to produce fertile interspecific hybrids with adequate foliar condensed tannin levels inherited from Lt. To date, these interspecific hybrids have generally been found to have higher levels of tolerance to abiotic stresses than their parental accessions, particularly regarding long-term partial submergence stress [4] and saline conditions [9].…”

Interspecific hybridization and inoculation with Pantoea eucalypti improve forage performance of Lotus crop species under alkaline stress

“…However, even though tetraploid commercial varieties of Lc are less tolerant to these environments, they are grown in most of the sown area (Maguire et al 2020(Maguire et al , 2022. This is probably because their leaves contain foliar condensed tannins (Escaray et al 2007(Escaray et al , 2010(Escaray et al , 2014, which is an important forage quality trait that contributes to ruminant diets, avoiding cattle bloat, improving protein fraction assimilation, and reducing intestinal parasites and enteric fermentation, thereby decreasing greenhouse gas production (Stanton et al 2019). In contrast, Lt lacks high condensed tannin leaf levels, so has been crossed with a wild diploid Lc accession to produce fertile interspecific hybrids with adequate foliar condensed tannins inherited from Lc.…”

“…2007, 2010, 2014), which is an important forage quality trait that contributes to ruminant diets, avoiding cattle bloat, improving protein fraction assimilation, and reducing intestinal parasites and enteric fermentation, thereby decreasing greenhouse gas production (Stanton et al . 2019). In contrast, Lt lacks high condensed tannin leaf levels, so has been crossed with a wild diploid Lc accession to produce fertile interspecific hybrids with adequate foliar condensed tannins inherited from Lc.…”