The Effect of Combining Millet and Corn Straw as Source Forage for Beef Cattle Diets on Ruminal Degradability and Fungal Community

Abstract

Three ruminal cannulated Simmental crossbreed bulls (approximately 3 years of age and with 380 ± 20 kg live weight at initiation of the experiment) were used in a 3 × 3 Latin square experiment in order to determine the effects of the treatments on ruminal pH and degradability of nutrients, as well as the rumen fungal community. The experimental periods were 21 d, with 18 d of adjustment to the respective dietary treatments and 3 d of sample collection. Treatments consisted of a basal diet containing a 47.11% composition of two sources of forage as follows: (1) 100% millet straw (MILLSTR), (2) 50:50 millet straw and corn straw (COMB), and (3) 100% corn straw (CORNSTR). Dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), and acid detergent fiber (ADF) were tested for ruminal degradability using the nylon bag method, which was incubated for 6, 12, 24, 36, 48, and 72 h, and rumen fungal community in rumen fluid was determined by high-throughput gene sequencing technology. Ruminal pH was not affected by treatments. At 72 h, compared to MILLSTR, DM degradability of CORNSTR was 4.8% greater (p < 0.05), but when corn was combined with millet straw, the difference in DM degradability was 9.4%. During the first 24 h, degradability of CP was lower for CORNSTR, intermediate for MILLSTR, and higher for COMB. However, at 72 h, MILLSTR and COMB had a similar CP degradability value, staying greater than the CP degradability value of the CORNSTR treatment. Compared to MILLSTR, the rumen degradability of NDF was greater for CORNSTR and intermediate for the COMB. There was a greater degradability for ADF in CORNSTR, intermediate for COMB, and lower for MILLSTR. In all treatments, Ascomycota and Basidiomycota were dominant flora. Abundance of Basidiomycota in the group COMB was higher (p < 0.05) than that in the group CORNSTR at 12 h. Relative to the fungal genus level, the Thelebolus, Cladosporium, and Meyerozyma were the dominant fungus, and the abundance of Meyerozyma in COMB and CORNSTR were greater (p < 0.05) than MILLSTR at 12, 24, and 36 h of incubation. In conclusion, it is suggested to feed beef cattle with different proportions of millet straw and corn straw combinations.

Analysis of fungal diversity in the gut feces of wild takin (Budorcas taxicolor)

“…When animals age, parasitic infections, traumatic injuries, and other diseases cause their immune function to decrease, making them susceptible to infection by potentially pathogenic fungi. All five groups of samples contained Thelebolus, which was the genera; similar findings were reported in yak (Zhu et al, 2023) and beef cattle (Tong et al, 2023) under different feeding patterns. Thelebolus negatively impacts ruminant health and behavior (Koester et al, 2020).…”

Ecoinformatic Analysis of the Gut Ecological Diversity of Wild and Captive Long-Tailed Gorals Using Improved ITS2 Region Primers to Support Their Conservation

“…We found that the genus Thelebolus was the most dominant in Korean wild long-tailed gorals. Thelebolus is known to be dispersed by animals [ 47 ], and it is closely related to wild animals and dominant in some ruminants [ 48 ]. Considering that it makes up nearly half of the sequences obtained from the gut eco-information of wild long-tailed gorals, it can be seen as evidence that wild long-tailed gorals are excellent Thelebolus dispersers that have a significant impact on the ecology and evolution of this genus of soil fungus.…”

Effects of yeast culture on in vitro ruminal fermentation and microbial community of high concentrate diet in sheep

“…On the other hand, because of the conventional viewpoint in the bacteria as the primary functional microorganisms of rumen, the majority of studies focused on the bacterial composition in the rumen of ruminants (Ma et al 2020 ; Zhang et al 2023 ). In fact, the fungal community acts as an essential role in the digestion of cellulose (Tong et al 2023 ). Therefore, in the current study, we performed an in vitro experiment to assess the influence of YC supplementation levels on ruminal fermentation profile and bacterial and fungal community of high concentrate diet in sheep.…”