Altitude influences microbial diversity and herbage fermentation in the rumen of yaks
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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Open Access
Altitude influences microbial diversity and herbage fermentation in the rumen of yaks Qingshan Fan1, Metha Wanapat2, Tianhai Yan3 and Fujiang Hou1*
Abstract Background: Rumen microbiota in ruminants are vital for sustaining good rumen ecology, health, and productivity. Currently, limited information is available regarding the response of yaks (Bos grunniens) to fluctuating environments, especially the rumen microbiome. To address this, we investigated the diet, rumen bacterial community, and volatile fatty acids (VFA) of rumen fluid of yaks raised in the great Qinghai-Tibet plateau (QTP) at 2800 (low altitude, L), 3700 (middle altitude, M), and 4700 m (high altitude, H) above sea level. Results: The results showed that despite a partial diet overlap, H yaks harbored higher fibrous fractious contents than the M and L grazing yaks. Bacteria including Christensenellaceae_R-7_group, Ruminococcus_1, Romboutsia, Alloprevotella, Eubacterium coprostanoligenes, Clostridium, Streptococcus, and Treponema were found to be enriched in the rumen of yaks grazing at H. They also showed higher rumen microbial diversity and total VFA concentrations than those shown by yaks at M and L. Principal coordinates analysis (PCoA) on weighted UniFrac distances revealed that the bacterial community structure of rumen differed between the three altitudes. Moreover, Tax4fun metagenome estimation revealed that microbial genes associated with energy requirement and carbohydrate metabolic fate were overexpressed in the rumen microbiota of H yaks. Conclusions: Collectively, our results revealed that H yaks had a stronger herbage fermenting ability via rumen microbial fermentation. Their enhanced ability of utilizing herbage may be partly owing to a microbiota adaptation for more energy requirements in the harsh H environment, such as lower temperature and the risk of hypoxia. Keywords: Yak, Rumen microbiota, VFA profiles, Fermenting ability, High altitude
Background The rumen is a complicated microbial ecosystem harboring compartment, hosting abundant bacteria, protozoa, and fungi, that play vital roles in ruminants [1]. Ruminants depend on their rumen microbes for degradation of structural carbohydrates (cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin) in herbage, and synthesis of rumen volatile fatty acids (VFA) and microbial proteins synthesis as energy and protein sources [2]. A previous study * Correspondence: [email protected] 1 State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agro-ecosystems, Key Laboratory of Grassland Livestock Industry Innovation, Ministry of Agriculture, College of Pastoral Agriculture Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China Full list of author information is available at the end of the article
suggested that the rumen is considered to be free of microbes after birth, but is soon contaminated with microbes from the dam and surrounding environment [3]. The rumen microbial consortium provides useful functions for the host, such as food fermentation [4], immunity regulation [5], disease pr
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