Rumen microbiota responses to the enzymatic hydrolyzed cottonseed peptide supplement under high-concentrate diet feeding process

Abstract

In current dairy production, dietary energy is always excessively provided with a high-concentrate diet feeding to improve milk production. However, this feeding practice disturbed the rumen microbial ecosystem and the balance between ruminal energy and nitrogen, resulting in decreased nutrient fermentability, which in turn declined the milk yield of dairy cows. Therefore, supplementation of dietary degradable nitrogen may be helpful for high dairy production. In this study, we evaluated the regulatory effects of easily utilized enzymatic hydrolyzed cottonseed peptide (EHP) supplements on rumen microbiota communities and rumen nutrient fermentability under high-concentrate feeding. For this purpose, a gradient concentrate of EHP (from 0.2 to 1.0%) was added to the high-concentrate basal substrates for an in vitro experiment. Each treatment contained three replicates, with three bottles in each replicate. Rumen fermentable parameters included microbial protein content, volatile fatty acids, and ammonia-N; the rumen nutrient degradability of dry matter, crude protein, neutral detergent fiber, acid detergent fiber, ether extracts, calcium, and phosphorus were further investigated after in vitro fermentation for 72 h. Then, rumen microbiota communities and their correlation with ruminal fermentation parameters and rumen nutritional degradability were analyzed to understand the regulatory mechanism of the EHP supplements on rumen fermentability. Results indicate that treatment with 0.6% of EHP supplements had the highest content of acetate, butyrate, and neutral detergent fiber degradability among all treatments. Furthermore, EHP supplements significantly increased the relative abundance of rumen cellulose and starch-degrading bacteria such as Ruminococcus, Bifidobacterium, and Acetitomaculum, and the high nitrogen utilizing bacteria Butyrivibrio and Pseudobutyrivibrio, which may further promote the rumen carbohydrate and nitrogen metabolism. In summary, supplementation of easily degraded small peptides helps reestablish rumen energy and nitrogen balance to promote the rumen fermentable functions and nutritional degradability under high-concentrate diet feeding circumstances. These findings may further promote dairy production.

Multi-omics analysis on the mechanism of the effect of Isatis leaf on the growth performance of fattening sheep

“…Ammonia nitrogen is the main nitrogen source for rumen microbial fermentation and an important indicator affecting microbial activity. Suitable ammonia nitrogen is the primary condition to ensure the efficiency of microbial protein synthesis ( 25 , 26 ). The concentration of ammonia nitrogen and volatile fatty acid (VFA) in the rumen are important indicators reflecting the fermentation status of feed in the rumen.…”

Effects of Sophora alopecuroides in a High-Concentrate Diet on the Liver Immunity and Antioxidant Function of Lambs According to Transcriptome Analysis

“…The pH is affected by the feeding method, the concentrate-to-forage ratio and the dry matter content, and a substantial decrease in the rumen pH is the most common feature in the rumen of ruminants fed high-concentrate diets. Many studies have found that a decrease in pH to approximately 6.0, after animals regularly ingest a high-grain diet, results in a slight decrease in the fiber decomposition rate; however, the number of fibrolytic bacteria is usually unaffected, and a decrease to 5.5 or 5.0 results in a decrease in both the fiber decomposition rate and the number of fibrolytic bacteria, which may severely inhibit fiber digestion altogether, thus altering the rumen fermentation function [24,25]. In this study, the pH of the H2 group decreased sharply with feeding time and reached a minimum value of 5.44 after 2 h of feeding.…”