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Compositional and structural dynamics of the ruminal microbiota in dairy heifers and its relationship to methane production
Author(s) -
Cunha Camila S,
Marcondes Marcos I,
Veloso Cristina M,
Mantovani Hilário C,
Pereira Luiz Gustavo R,
Tomich Thierry R,
DillMcFarland Kimberly A,
Suen Garret
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
journal of the science of food and agriculture
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.782
H-Index - 142
eISSN - 1097-0010
pISSN - 0022-5142
DOI - 10.1002/jsfa.9162
Subject(s) - eubacterium , rumen , biology , methane emissions , zoology , food science , bacteria , methane , fermentation , ecology , genetics
BACKGROUND Heifers emit more enteric methane (CH 4 ) than adult cows and these emissions tend to decrease per unit feed intake as they age. However, common mitigation strategies like expensive high‐quality feeds are not economically feasible for these pre‐production animals. Given its direct role in CH 4 production, altering the rumen microbiota is another potential avenue for reducing CH 4 production by ruminants. However, to identify effective microbial targets, a better understanding of the rumen microbiota and its relationship to CH 4 production across heifer development is needed. RESULTS Here, we investigate the relationship between rumen bacterial, archaeal, and fungal communities as well as CH 4 emissions and a number of production traits in prepubertal (PP), pubertal (PB), and pregnant heifers (PG). Overall, PG heifers emitted the most CH 4 , followed by PB and PP heifers. The bacterial genus Acetobacter and the archaeal genus Methanobrevibacter were positively associated, while Eubacterium and Methanosphaera were negatively associated with raw CH 4 production by heifers. When corrected for dietary intake, both Eubacterium and Methanosphaera remained negatively associated with CH 4 production. CONCLUSION We suggest that Eubacterium and Methanosphaera represent likely targets for CH 4 mitigation efforts in heifers as they were negatively associated with CH 4 production and not significantly associated with production traits. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry