Alterations in Rumen Bacterial Community and Metabolome Characteristics of Cashmere Goats in Response to Dietary Nutrient Density

Abstract

This study was conducted to investigate the impacts of dietary energy and protein on rumen bacterial composition and ruminal metabolites. A total of 12 ruminal samples were collected from Shaanbei white cashmere goats which were divided into two groups, including high-energy and high-protein (Group H; crude protein, CP: 9.37% in dry matter; metabolic energy, ME: 9.24 MJ/kg) and control (Group C; CP: 8.73%; ME: 8.60 MJ/kg) groups. Thereby, 16S rRNA gene sequencing and a quantitative polymerase chain reaction were performed to identify the rumen bacterial community. Metabolomics analysis was done to investigate the rumen metabolites and the related metabolic pathways in Groups C and H. The high-energy and high-protein diets increased the relative abundance of phylum Bacteroidetes and genera Prevotella_1 and Succiniclasticum, while decreasing the number of Proteobacteria (p < 0.05). The dominant differential metabolites were amino acids, peptides, and analogs. Tyrosine metabolism played an important role among the nine main metabolic pathways. Correlation analysis revealed that both Prevotella_1 (r = 0.608, p < 0.05) and Ruminococcus_2 (r = 0.613, p < 0.05) showed a positive correlation with catechol. Our findings revealed that the diets with high energy and protein levels in Group H significantly altered the composition of ruminal bacteria and metabolites, which can help to improve the dietary energy and protein use efficiency in goats.

Cysteamine-supplemented diet for cashmere goats: A potential strategy to inhibit rumen biohydrogenation and enhance plasma antioxidant capacity

“…Similar to previous studies ( 10 , 35 ), Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes were the dominant bacterial phyla, and Neocallimastigomycota and Ascomycota were the dominant fungal phyla—both being important for the degradation and fermentation of diet biopolymers. At the genus level, we found that Prevotella_1 was the dominant bacteria, consistent with previous reports for cashmere goats ( 36 ) and Holstein cattle ( 37 , 38 ). Prevotella_1 plays an important role in the degradation and utilisation of proteins, peptides, starch, hemicellulose, and pectin ( 39 ).…”

High-energy diet modify rumen microbial composition and microbial energy metabolism pattern in fattening sheep

“…High-energy diets increase the relative abundance of Bacteroidetes and Prevotella but reduce the abundance of Proteobacteria. By affecting the bacterial community structure, it alters the synthesis of main metabolites important to animal health [ 14 ]. Despite such important findings, little is known about how a high-energy diet that promotes a weight gain of more than 200 g influences rumen fermentation and microbiota.…”

Nutrient Digestibility, Microbial Fermentation, and Response in Bacterial Composition to Methionine Dipeptide: An In Vitro Study

“…Peptides have been found to improve microbial protein yield and rumen fermentation ability [ 17 , 18 , 19 ]. Rather than amino acids or ammonia, rumen bacteria can utilize nitrogen from peptides [ 20 , 21 , 22 ].…”