An antimethanogenic nutritional intervention in early life of ruminants modifies ruminal colonization by Archaea

Abstract

The aim of this work was to study whether feeding a methanogen inhibitor from birth of goat kids and their does has an impact on the archaeal population colonizing the rumen and to what extent the impact persists later in life. Sixteen goats giving birth to two kids were used. Eight does were treated (D+) with bromochloromethane after giving birth and over 2 months. The other 8 goats were not treated (D-). One kid per doe in both groups was treated with bromochloromethane (k+) for 3 months while the other was untreated (k-), resulting in four experimental groups: D+/k+, D+/k-, D-/k+, and D-/k-. Rumen samples were collected from kids at weaning and 1 and 4 months after (3 and 6 months after birth) and from does at the end of the treating period (2 months). Pyrosequencing analyses showed a modified archaeal community composition colonizing the rumen of kids, although such effect did not persist entirely 4 months after; however, some less abundant groups remained different in treated and control animals. The different response on the archaeal community composition observed between offspring and adult goats suggests that the competition occurring in the developing rumen to occupy different niches offer potential for intervention.

Figure 1

Experimental design and sampling schedule. W = weaning; D+ k+ = treated kids from treated does; D+ k− = untreated kids from treated does; D− k+ = treated kids from untreated does; D− k− = untreated kids from untreated does.

Figure 2

Principal component analysis of rumen methanogenic archaea profiles in does: blue circles = D+ and red square = D−.

Figure 3

Principal component analysis of rumen methanogenic archaea profiles at (a) weaning, (b) 1 month after, and (c) 4 months after weaning. Experimental groups: up-pointing pale green triangle = D+ k+, right-pointing blue triangle = D+ k−, green circles = D− k−, and red square = D− k+. D+ k+ = treated kids from treated does; D+ k− = untreated kids from treated does; D− k+ = treated kids from untreated does; D− k− = untreated kids from untreated does.

Figure 4

Assessment of effect of adding BCM on the growth (mL CH₄/mL gas) of seven Archaea strains (Methanobrevibacter millerae, Methanobacterium smithii, Methanobacterium bryantii, Methanobrevibacter ruminantium, Methanosarcina barkeri, Methanosphaera stadtmanae, and Methanomicrobium mobile) studied in this experiment.