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Changes in ruminal bacterial communities of beef cattle during high concentrated diet transition and experimental induced subacute acidosis
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- Author / Creator
- Yanhong, Chen
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Rapid dietary transition is a common practice in the nutritional management of feedlot cattle, which may lead to ruminal acidosis in some animals. Ruminal acidosis is a prevenient digestive disorder in livestock industry which significantly impacts animal health and production. To date, the understanding of the changes in the ruminal microbial community during diet transition or acidosis is very limited. In this study, we have investigated: 1) the epithelial tissue associated bacterial diversity changes in the rumen of beef cattle during dietary transition to high grain diets; and 2) variation of digesta and epithelium attached bacterial communities in the rumen of steers differing in susceptibility to subacute ruminal acidosis using culture-independent molecular based methods. PCR- denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis and quantitative real time PCR analysis of 24 beef heifers adapted from a diet containing 97% hay to the diet containing 8% hay over 29 days revealed that the epimural bacterial diversity from rapid grain adaptation heifers changed in response to the dietary transition. Similar analysis of bacterial profiles of rumen samples from acidosis-resistant and acidosis-susceptible steers showed that the diversity and density of digesta and epithelial attached bacterial communities are different between AS and AR animals.
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- Subjects / Keywords
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- Graduation date
- Fall 2011
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- Type of Item
- Thesis
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- Degree
- Master of Science
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- License
- This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.