ena-STUDY-VETMEDUNI-05-09-2013-09:17:44:631-37
Faecal microbiome of Simmental calves determined by 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing
Calves undergo several changes of basic nutrition during early development from birth to weaning accompanied by pivotal changes of anatomy and physiology of the gastrointestinal tract. These changes go along with concomitant changes of the gastrointestinal tract microbiota. Therefore the aim of our study was to examine the fecal microbiota of six Simmental dairy calves during early development in a longitudinal study by using 16S rRNA gene amplicon pyrosequencing. Animals were followed up from birth to the time after weaning - calves were sampled six times according to critical timepoints during physiologic development. Overall, after quality control 253,528 reads (from 35 samples) were obtained. Reads were classified into 5,410 operational taxonomic units based on 0.03 16S rRNA distance with Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes and Proteobacteria being the most abundant phyla. The calves showed a high inter-individual variation in the composition of their fecal microbiota, although some tendencies could be seen: (i) an increasing diversity and species richness of the fecal bacterial community with increasing age and (ii) an increasing within-age-group similarity and distinct bacterial communities in early timepoints (from birth to the middle of the milk feeding period) compared to the timepoints around weaning.
Calves undergo several changes of basic nutrition during early development from birth to weaning accompanied by pivotal changes of anatomy and physiology of the gastrointestinal tract. These changes go along with concomitant changes of the gastrointestinal tract microbiota. Therefore the aim of our study was to examine the fecal microbiota of six Simmental dairy calves during early development in a longitudinal study by using 16S rRNA gene amplicon pyrosequencing. Animals were followed up from birth to the time after weaning - calves were sampled six times according to critical timepoints during physiologic development. Overall, after quality control 253,528 reads (from 35 samples) were obtained. Reads were classified into 5,410 operational taxonomic units based on 0.03 16S rRNA distance with Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes and Proteobacteria being the most abundant phyla. The calves showed a high inter-individual variation in the composition of their fecal microbiota, although some tendencies could be seen: (i) an increasing diversity and species richness of the fecal bacterial community with increasing age and (ii) an increasing within-age-group similarity and distinct bacterial communities in early timepoints (from birth to the middle of the milk feeding period) compared to the timepoints around weaning.