Hennessy Meagan, Kristula Michaela, Cady Sarah, Smith Billy, Indugu Nagaraju, Vecchiarelli Bonnie, Pitta Dipti
Department of Clinical Studies, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, New Bolton Center, Kennett Square 19348.
JDS Commun. 2023 Feb 9;4(2):80-85. doi: 10.3168/jdsc.2022-0296. eCollection 2023 Mar.
Calf diarrhea is a leading cause of death in preweaning calves and it causes major economic losses to producers. Acidified milk has been shown to have beneficial effects on health and growth parameters in calves but there is little research into its effects on the microbiota, and few studies on the use of acidified colostrum. The purpose of this study was to compare how feeding acidified colostrum to calves at birth affects fecal microbiota from birth through 8 wk of age compared with calves fed nonacidified colostrum. In this study, 5 calves received acidified colostrum (treated group) and 5 calves received nonacidified colostrum (control group) at birth and at 12 h of age. All calves were subsequently fed acidified whole milk until weaning at 8 wk of age and had access to starter grain starting at d 3 and throughout the study. Fecal samples were collected at 24 h, 48 h, and at 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 wk of age. Samples were extracted for genomic DNA, PCR-amplified for the V1-V2 region of the 16S rRNA bacteria gene, sequenced, and analyzed using QIIME2. Bacterial richness (estimated by number of observed species) and bacterial diversity (estimated by Shannon diversity index) differed between time points but not between treatment groups, and both increased over time. Weighted and unweighted UniFrac analysis showed differences between bacterial communities across time points and treatments. Across all time points (lmer test), 6 bacterial genera were different between treatments: and unclassified were more abundant, whereas , , , and unclassified were less abundant in treated versus control calves. is a butyrate-producing bacterium that has been linked to decreased prevalence of diarrhea in calves. Our results indicate that there is considerable flux in the calf microbiome through the neonatal period and weaning transition but that feeding acidified colostrum followed by acidified whole milk allowed early colonization of . Further studies are needed to verify the positive benefits of promoting on improving the health of preweaning calves.
犊牛腹泻是断奶前犊牛死亡的主要原因，给养殖户造成了重大经济损失。酸化乳已被证明对犊牛的健康和生长参数有有益影响，但关于其对微生物群影响的研究较少，对酸化初乳使用的研究也很少。本研究的目的是比较出生时给犊牛饲喂酸化初乳与饲喂未酸化初乳相比，从出生到8周龄对粪便微生物群的影响。在本研究中，5头犊牛在出生时和12小时龄时接受酸化初乳（处理组），5头犊牛接受未酸化初乳（对照组）。所有犊牛随后均饲喂酸化全脂乳直至8周龄断奶，并从第3天开始直至整个研究期间可采食开食料。在24小时、48小时以及1、2、3、4、5、6、7和8周龄时采集粪便样本。提取样本中的基因组DNA，对16S rRNA细菌基因的V1-V2区域进行PCR扩增，测序，并使用QIIME2进行分析。细菌丰富度（通过观察到的物种数量估计）和细菌多样性（通过香农多样性指数估计）在不同时间点有所不同，但在处理组之间没有差异，且两者均随时间增加。加权和未加权的UniFrac分析显示，不同时间点和处理的细菌群落之间存在差异。在所有时间点（线性混合效应模型检验），处理之间有6个细菌属不同：未分类的 和 更丰富，而在处理组犊牛与对照组犊牛相比， 、 、 和未分类的 更稀少。 是一种产丁酸的细菌，与犊牛腹泻患病率降低有关。我们的结果表明，在新生期和断奶过渡期，犊牛微生物组有相当大的变化，但饲喂酸化初乳后再饲喂酸化全脂乳可使 早期定殖。需要进一步研究以验证促进 对改善断奶前犊牛健康的积极益处。
