College of Animal Science and Technology, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou, 450046, China.
College of Animal Science and Technology, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, 225000, China.
BMC Microbiol. 2023 May 10;23(1):125. doi: 10.1186/s12866-023-02869-y.
Coprophagy plays a vital role in maintaining growth and development in many small herbivores. Here, we constructed a coprophagy model by dividing rabbits into three groups, namely, control group (CON), sham-coprophagy prevention group (SCP), and coprophagy prevention group (CP), to explore the effects of coprophagy prevention on growth performance and cecal microecology in rabbits.
Results showed that CP treatment decreased the feed utilization and growth performance of rabbits. Serum total cholesterol and total triglyceride in the CP group were remarkably lower than those in the other two groups. Furthermore, CP treatment destroyed cecum villi and reduced the content of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) in cecum contents. Gut microbiota profiling showed significant differences in the phylum and genus composition of cecal microorganisms among the three groups. At the genus level, the abundance of Oscillospira and Ruminococcus decreased significantly in the CP group. Enrichment analysis of metabolic pathways showed a significantly up-regulated differential metabolic pathway (PWY-7315, dTDP-N-acetylthomosamine biosynthesis) in the CP group compared with that in the CON group. Correlation analysis showed that the serum biochemical parameters were positively correlated with the abundance of Oscillospira, Sutterella, and Butyricimonas but negatively correlated with the abundance of Oxalobacte and Desulfovibrio. Meanwhile, the abundance of Butyricimonas and Parabacteroidesde was positively correlated with the concentration of butyric acid in the cecum.
In summary, coprophagy prevention had negative effects on serum biochemistry and gut microbiota, ultimately decreasing the growth performance of rabbits. The findings provide evidence for further revealing the biological significance of coprophagy in small herbivorous mammals.
食粪在许多小型草食动物的生长和发育中起着至关重要的作用。在这里，我们通过将兔子分为对照组（CON）、假食粪预防组（SCP）和食粪预防组（CP）三个组来构建食粪模型，以探讨食粪预防对兔子生长性能和盲肠微生物群的影响。
结果表明，CP 处理降低了兔子的饲料利用率和生长性能。CP 组血清总胆固醇和总甘油三酯明显低于其他两组。此外，CP 处理破坏了盲肠绒毛，降低了盲肠内容物中短链脂肪酸（SCFAs）的含量。肠道微生物群分析显示，三组盲肠微生物的门和属组成存在显著差异。在属水平上，CP 组的 Oscillospira 和 Ruminococcus 丰度显著降低。代谢途径富集分析显示，CP 组与 CON 组相比，差异代谢途径（PWY-7315、dTDP-N-乙酰基-thomosamine 生物合成）显著上调。相关性分析表明，血清生化参数与 Oscillospira、Sutterella 和 Butyricimonas 的丰度呈正相关，与 Oxalobacte 和 Desulfovibrio 的丰度呈负相关。同时，Butyricimonas 和 Parabacteroidesde 的丰度与盲肠中丁酸的浓度呈正相关。
总之，食粪预防对血清生化和肠道微生物群有负面影响，最终降低了兔子的生长性能。这些发现为进一步揭示食粪在小型草食性哺乳动物中的生物学意义提供了证据。
