Bacterial Communities in the Alpaca Gastrointestinal Tract Vary With Diet and Body Site

Abstract

Gut -associated microbes (‘gut microbiota’) impact the nutrition of their hosts, especially in ruminants and pseudoruminants that consume high-cellulose diets. Examples include the pseudoruminant alpaca. To better understand how body site and diet influence the alpaca microbiota, we performed three 16S rRNA gene surveys. First, we surveyed the compartment 1 (C1), duodenum, jejunum, ileum, cecum, and large intestine (LI) of alpacas fed a grass hay (GH; tall fescue) or alfalfa hay (AH) diet for 30 days. Second, we performed a C1 survey of alpacas fed a series of 2-week mixed grass hay (MGH) diets supplemented with ∼25% dry weight barley, quinoa, amaranth, or soybean meal. Third, we examined the microbial differences of alpacas with normal versus poor body condition. Samples from GH- and AH-fed alpacas grouped by diet and body site but none of the four supplements significantly altered C1 microbiota composition, relative to each other, and none of the OTUs were differentially abundant between alpacas with normal versus poor body conditions. Taken together, the findings of a diet- and body-site specific alpaca microbiota are consistent with previous findings in ruminants and other mammals, but we provide no evidence to link changes in alpaca body condition with variation in microbiota relative abundance or identity.

The association between fecal microbiota, age and endoparasitism in adult alpacas

“…This observation is in agreement with a prior report in camels [ 34 ]. The relative abundance of Bacteroides in our study is however clearly smaller than observed in a study of alpacas fed different diets [ 13 ]. Similar to camelids, Firmicutes is the main bacterial phylum identified in the fecal microbiota of most equine studies to date, while fewer reports identified Bacteroidetes as the most abundant phylum in horses [ 42 ].…”

“…Forage-associated differences in microbial populations were primarily attributable to site-specific shifts in Bacteroidaceae, Prevotella and Actinobacteria. The dominant phyla (Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes [ 13 ]) identified in the analyses of alpacas were also found to be abundant in previous studies of ruminants and pseudoruminants, although most prior work was focused on C1 microbiota composition [ 14 – 16 ].…”

“…Little information is available on the intestinal microbial population of alpacas. A single study investigated the effect of diet on the microbiota in forestomach compartment 1 (C1), in the small intestine and in the large intestine of a very small number of alpacas [ 13 ]. While hay type (grass hay compared to alfalfa hay) significantly impacted gut microbiota composition in each body site, grain supplementation (approximately 25% of dry matter) over 2 weeks was insufficient to significantly alter the C1 microbiota in a second experiment.…”

Nutrición animal: Texto de formación universitaria

“…Afirma que los camélidos no son rumiantes ni son una amenaza para la industria ganadera porque tienen una resistencia total a las enfermedades infecciosas y parasitarias de los rumiantes. Las fuentes revisadas han configurado a los camélidos como falsos rumiantes o pseudorumiantes (Vallenas et al, 1971;Fowler, 2010;Carroll et al, 2019); y sus seguidores, por lo general replican el mismo texto, negando el carácter rumiante de los camélidos, lo cual constituye un error de concepto que merece un análisis objetivo.…”

Alpaca Field Behaviour When Cohabitating with Lambing Ewes

“…This pattern is very similar to the activity periods shown by the alpacas in our experiment. Alpacas are classified as pseudo-ruminants (having a three-compartment forestomach) [23] and therefore we might expect alpacas to share similar diurnal activity patterns as ruminant species, such as cattle and sheep that also have multi-compartment stomachs. These species are known to show a daily pattern of three to five peaks of grazing activity [24,25].…”