Influence of Parity on the Colostrum Bacterial Community Composition in Holstein Cows

Abstract

The colostrum bacteriome of primiparous (P) and multiparous (M) Holstein cows was analysed by 16S rRNA sequencing. The species richness (Chao 1), diversity (Shannon and Simpson), and beta diversity did not differ between cow groups. The phyla Firmicutes, Tenericutes, Kiritimatiellaeota, and Fibrobacteres were more abundant in M cows, while Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Cloacimonetes, and Fusobacteria were more abundant in P cows. At the genus level, no significant differences were observed between groups (P < 0.05), and Prevotella_1 was the most abundant taxon. P and M cows shared 1030 taxonomic operational units (OTUs), with Acinetobacter showing greater abundance. In conclusion, parity did not affect the colostrum bacteriome of P and M cows and a healthy mammary gland could represent a reservoir of Acinetobacter in dairy farms.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12088-022-01016-x.

Keywords: 16S rRNA sequencing; Colostrum; Microbiota; Multiparous; Primiparous.

Fig. 1

Bacterial composition at the phylum level of the bacterial communities in the colostrum of primiparous (P) and multiparous (M). Each bar represent the relative abundance of bacterial taxa for individual animals in each group. “Others” corresponds to the phyla with < 0.5% relative abundance