Effects of transport stress on fecal microbiota in healthy donkeys

Abstract

Background: With the development of large-scale donkey farming in China, long-distance transportation has become a common practice, and the incidence of intestinal diseases after transportation has increased. Intestinal microbiota is important for health and disease, and whether transportation disturbs donkey intestinal microbiota has not been investigated. This study aims to determine the effects of transportation on the fecal microbiota of healthy donkeys using 16S rDNA sequencing. Results: Fecal samples were collected from the rectum of 12 Dezhou donkeys before and after transportation. Results show that long-distance transportation can induce severe stress in donkeys and result in significantly lower level of bacterial richness index compared with that before transport (p=0.042) without distinct changes in diversity. This marked decrease in specific bacterial richness, such as for Eubacterium, Streptococcus, and Coriobacteriaceae, might be associated with the restricted synthesis of anti-inflammatory cytokines and metabolites, such as short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) that potentially contribute to disease development after the transport. Conclusions: Further studies are required to understand the potential effect of these microbiota changes on the development of donkey intestinal diseases. Preventative and therapeutic measures for donkeys before and after transportation should focus on providing diverse and rich bacterial microbiota and probiotic flora. Keywords: Transport stress, Donkeys, Fecal microbiota, 16S rDNA sequencing

Design of Environmental Monitoring System for Livestock Transport Carriage Based on STM32 and ZigBee

“…If not controlled, it will bring great economic losses to farmers or buyers. Therefore, how to effectively monitor the changes of temperature, humidity and gas concentration in the carriage during the transportation of livestock has become a key issue in the logistics of livestock preservation [3,4] .…”