Influence of dairy by-product waste milk on the microbiomes of different gastrointestinal tract components in pre-weaned dairy calves

Abstract

The community structure of colonised bacteria in the gastrointestinal tracts (GITs) of pre-weaned calves is affected by extrinsic factors, such as the genetics and diet of the calves; however, the dietary impact is not fully understood and warrants further research. Our study revealed that a total of 6, 5, 2 and 10 bacterial genera showed biologically significant differences in the GITs of pre-weaned calves fed four waste-milk diets: acidified waste milk, pasteurised waste milk, untreated bulk milk, and untreated waste milk, respectively. Specifically, generic biomarkers were observed in the rumen (e.g., Bifidobacterium, Parabacteroides, Fibrobacter, Clostridium, etc.), caecum (e.g., Faecalibacterium, Oxalobacter, Odoribacter, etc.) and colon (e.g., Megamonas, Comamonas, Stenotrophomonas, etc.) but not in the faeces. In addition, the predicted metabolic pathways showed that the expression of genes related to metabolic diseases was increased in the calves fed untreated waste milk, which indicated that untreated waste milk is not a suitable liquid diet for pre-weaned calves. This is the first study to demonstrate how different types of waste milk fed to pre-weaned calves affect the community structure of colonised bacteria, and the results may provide insights for the intentional adjustment of diets and gastrointestinal bacterial communities.

Effect of acidified milk feeding on the intake, average daily gain and fecal microbiological diversity of Holsten dairy calves

“…Deng et al [28] showed that an acidified waste milk diet produced similar bacterial diversity in colon mucosa and digesta samples and rectum feces in calves, with present results at the generic level. The abundance of Bacteroidetes in the feces of calves fed AM before weaning positively correlated with the colonization resistance of gut harmful microorganisms, which would prevent the entry of pathogens in the early stage of infection [25,29].…”

Dietary Corn Bran Altered the Diversity of Microbial Communities and Cytokine Production in Weaned Pigs

“…Fibrobacter belongs to the poorly defined Fibrobacteres phylum, which is characterized by high cellulolytic activity and capable of degrading complex plant fiber ( Qi et al, 2005 ). It was reported that increased abundance of Fibrobacter resulted in high concentration of SCFAs in rumen of dairy cows ( Deng et al, 2017 ). Meanwhile, the population of Fibrobacter was increased in finishing pigs fed a diet containing 10% CB in our previous study ( Liu et al, 2017 ).…”

Effect of Limit-Fed Diets With Different Forage to Concentrate Ratios on Fecal Bacterial and Archaeal Community Composition in Holstein Heifers

“…Similarly, unclassified Ruminococcaceae and Lachnospiraceae, Bacteroides, Alistipes, Akkermansia, Clostridium, Ruminococcus , and Prevotella have been found to predominate in the feces (Callaway et al, 2010 ; Deng et al, 2017 ; Li et al, 2017 ). Unclassified Ruminococcaceae and Lachnospiraceae, Prevotella , and Ruminococcus have also been detected in 742 rumen samples of 32 types of ruminants from all over the world and might be considered as the “core bacterial microbiome” at the genus level (Henderson et al, 2015 ).…”