Maternal influences on oral and faecal microbiota maturation in neonatal calves in beef and dairy production systems

Barden, Matthew; Richards‐Rios, Peter; Ganda, Erika; Lenzi, Luca; Eccles, Richard; Neary, Joseph M.; Oultram, Jo; Oikonomou, Georgios

doi:10.1186/s42523-020-00049-1

Cited by 28 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…However, the principal coordinate scatter plot demonstrated dam fecal samples tightly clustered while vaginal and oral samples were not. Previous literature shows similar results and provides some insight on how various maternal microbiomes are inoculated, but these results also point towards the difficulty of determining bacterial contamination versus inoculant [27,43]. The broader clustering of the vaginal and oral microbiomes makes sense, as these sites not only contain bacteria typically commensal to that location, but they are also consistently exposed to sources of new bacteria, like feed for the oral cavity or feces and bedding for the vagina, which would increase beta diversity of the microbiome [27,44].…”

Section: Variation Between Maternal Sourcessupporting

confidence: 72%

Microbiomes of Various Maternal Body Systems Are Predictive of Calf Digestive Bacterial Ecology

Owens

Huffard

Nin-Velez

et al. 2021

Animals

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Body systems once thought sterile at birth instead have complex and sometimes abundant microbial ecosystems. However, relationships between dam and calf microbial ecosystems are still unclear. The objectives of this study were to (1) characterize the various maternal and calf microbiomes during peri-partum and post-partum periods and (2) examine the influence of the maternal microbiome on calf fecal microbiome composition during the pre-weaning phase. Multiparous Holstein cows were placed in individual, freshly bedded box stalls 14 d before expected calving. Caudal vaginal fluid samples were collected approximately 24 h before calving and dam fecal, oral, colostrum, and placenta samples were collected immediately after calving. Calf fecal samples were collected at birth (meconium) and 24 h, 7 d, 42 d, and 60 d of age. Amplicons covering V4 16S rDNA regions were generated using DNA extracted from all samples and were sequenced using 300 bp paired end Illumina MiSeq sequencing. Spearman rank correlations were performed between genera in maternal and calf fecal microbiomes. Negative binomial regression models were created for genera in calf fecal samples at each time point using genera in maternal microbiomes. We determined that Bacteroidetes dominated the calf fecal microbiome at all time points (relative abundance ≥42.55%) except for 24 h post-calving, whereas Proteobacteria were the dominant phylum (relative abundance = 85.10%). Maternal fecal, oral, placental, vaginal, and colostrum microbiomes were significant predictors of calf fecal microbiome throughout pre-weaning. Results indicate that calf fecal microbiome inoculation and development may be derived from various maternal sources. Maternal microbiomes could be used to predict calf microbiome development, but further research on the environmental and genetic influences is needed.

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Section: Variation Between Maternal Sourcessupporting

confidence: 72%

Microbiomes of Various Maternal Body Systems Are Predictive of Calf Digestive Bacterial Ecology

Owens

Huffard

Nin-Velez

et al. 2021

Animals

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“…The calves age as well as the time of weaning also affected the OS microbiota at both phylum-and genuslevel. A recent study reported that the oral microbiota of neonatal calves matured quickly and contained similar microbial composition to the adult cow oral microbiota by four-weeks of age [33]. In the present study, the oral samples were collected at seven-weeks of age, thus, it is presumable that the oral microbiota was matured and the major changes observed in OS microbiota composition were mainly caused by weaning related dietary shifts.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 69%

“…At the time of weaning, calves were moved to another strawbedded barn in groups of different sizes. EarlyC group was weaned at 7 weeks of age (days [28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42] and lateC group at 17 weeks of age (days 98-112). During weaning, the amount of milk replacer was reduced in a 14 days stepdown approach from 1.35 kg/d to 0.3 kg/d.…”

Section: Animals Management and Dietsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolution of rumen and oral microbiota in calves is influenced by age and time of weaning

et al. 2021

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Background The rumen bacterial communities are changing dynamically throughout the first year of calf’s life including the weaning period as a critical event. Rumen microbiome analysis is often limited to invasive rumen sampling procedures but the oral cavity of ruminants is expected to harbour rumen microbes due to regurgitation activity. The present study used buccal swab samples to define the rumen core microbiome and characterize the shifts in rumen and oral microbial communities occurring as result of calf’s age as well as time of weaning. Results Buccal swab samples of 59 calves were collected along the first 140 days of life and compared to stomach tubing sample of the rumen at day 140. Animals were randomly divided into two weaning groups. Microbiota of saliva and rumen content was analysed by 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing. Our study showed that most rumen-specific bacterial taxa were equally observed in rumen samples as well as in the buccal swabs, though relative abundance varied. The occurrence of rumen-specific OTUs in buccal swab samples increased approximately 1.7 times from day 70 to day 140, indicating the gradual development of rumen as calf aged. The rumen-specific bacterial taxa diversity increased, and inter-animal variations decreased with age. Early weaning (7 weeks of age) rapidly increased the rumen microbial diversity from pre- to post-weaned state. Rumen microbiota of early-weaned calves seemed to have a suppressed growth of starch- and carbohydrate-utilizing bacteria and increased fibre degraders. Whereas, in late-weaned calves (17 weeks of age) no impact of dietary modifications on rumen microbiota composition was observed after weaning. Oral-specific bacterial community composition was significantly affected by calf’s age and time of weaning. Conclusions The present study showed the significant impact of calf’s age and weaning on the establishment of rumen- and oral-specific bacterial communities utilizing buccal swab samples. The results emphasize the possibility of using buccal swab samples as a replacement of complex stomach tube method for large-scale predictive studies on ruminants. For in-depth rumen microbiome studies, the time of sampling should be carefully considered using an active phase of regurgitation.

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“…Interestingly, we did not observe any bright sick beef-cross (Jersey x Angus) calves. Beef operations tend to have different management practices than dairies [ 35 ], with greater cow-calf interactions and lower human-calf handling. Therefore, it is known that different factors can influence diarrhea in dairy and beef operations.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fecal microbiome profiles of neonatal dairy calves with varying severities of gastrointestinal disease

et al. 2022

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Gastrointestinal disease (GI) is the most common illness in pre-weaned dairy calves. Studies have associated the fecal microbiome composition with health status, but it remains unclear how the microbiome changes across different levels of GI disease and breeds. Our objective was to associate the clinical symptoms of GI disease with the fecal microbiome. Fecal samples were collected from calves (n = 167) of different breeds (Holstein, Jersey, Jersey-cross and beef-cross) from 4–21 d of age. Daily clinical evaluations assessed health status. Calves with loose or watery feces were diagnosed with diarrhea and classified as bright-sick (BS) or depressed-sick (DS) according to behavior. Calves with normal or semiformed feces and no clinical illness were classified as healthy (H). One hundred and three fecal samples were obtained from consistently healthy calves and 64 samples were from calves with diarrhea (n = 39 BS; n = 25 DS). The V3-V4 region of 16S rRNA gene was sequenced and analyzed. Differences were identified by a linear-mixed effects model with a negative binomial error. DS and Jersey calves had a higher relative abundance of Streptococcus gallolyticus relative to H Holstein calves. In addition, DS calves had a lower relative abundance of Bifidobacterium longum and an enrichment of Escherichia coli. Species of the genus Lactobacillus, such as an unclassified Lactobacillus, Lactobacillus reuteri, and Lactobacillus salivarius were enriched in calves with GI disease. Moreover, we created a model to predict GI disease based on the fecal microbiome composition. The presence of Eggerthella lenta, Bifidobacterium longum, and Collinsella aerofaciens were associated with a healthy clinical outcome. Although lactobacilli are often associated with beneficial probiotic properties, the presence of E. coli and Lactobacillus species had the highest coefficients positively associated with GI disease prediction. Our results indicate that there are differences in the fecal microbiome of calves associated with GI disease severity and breed specificities.

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Maternal influences on oral and faecal microbiota maturation in neonatal calves in beef and dairy production systems

Cited by 28 publications

References 59 publications

Microbiomes of Various Maternal Body Systems Are Predictive of Calf Digestive Bacterial Ecology

Microbiomes of Various Maternal Body Systems Are Predictive of Calf Digestive Bacterial Ecology

Evolution of rumen and oral microbiota in calves is influenced by age and time of weaning

Fecal microbiome profiles of neonatal dairy calves with varying severities of gastrointestinal disease

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