The Changes in Fecal Bacterial Communities in Goats Offered Rumen-Protected Fat

Abstract

Leizhou goats are famous for their delicious meat but have inferior growth performance. There is little information on rumen-protected fat (RPF) from the Leizhou goat. Hence, we observed the effects of RPF on growth, fecal short-chain fatty acids, and bacteria community with respect to Leizhou goats. Twelve goats (13.34 ± 0.024 kg) were selected and assigned randomly to one of two treatments: (1) a control diet (CON) and (2) 2.4% RPF with a control diet (RPF). The final body weight and average daily gain (ADG) were greater (p < 0.05), and the dry matter intake (DMI): ADG was lower (p < 0.05) in the RPF group than in the CON group. There were no differences in DMI between the CON and RPF groups. The concentrations of total short-chain fatty acids, acetate, propionate, and butyrate were lower (p < 0.05) in the RPF group than in the CON group. The relative abundances of Ruminococcus, Rikenellaceae_RC9_gut_group, Treponema, norank_f__norank_o__RF39, Eubacterium_siraeum_group, and Ruminococcus_torques_group were lower (p < 0.05) in the RPF group than in the CON group. The relative abundances of Bacteroides, norank_f__norank_o__Clostridia_UCG-014, norank_f__Eubacterium_coprostanoligenes_group, Eubacterium_ruminantium_group, norank_f__Oscillospirale-UCG-010, Oscillospiraceae_UCG-002, and Family_XIII_AD3011_group were greater (p < 0.05) in the RPF group than in the CON group. It was concluded that RPF could improve the goats' growth performance by regulating their fecal bacteria communities.

Keywords: fecal bacteria communities; goat; rumen-protected fat.

Figure 1

Flower plot showing different and similar OTUs in goats offered rumen-protected fat. CON = control group; RPF = rumen-protected fat.

Figure 2

Fecal bacterial relative abundances (at phylum level, >0.5% of total reads) in goats offered rumen-protected fat. CON = control group; RPF = rumen-protected fat.

Figure 3

Fecal bacterial relative abundances (at genus level, >0.5% total reads) in goats offered rumen-protected fat. CON = control group; RPF = rumen-protected fat.

Figure 4

Linear discriminant analysis effect size (LEfSe) results for fecal microbiota in goats consuming diets including rumen-protected fat. (A) Linear discriminant analysis. (B) Cladogram reported. Prefixes represent abbreviations for the taxonomic rank of each taxon: phylum (p_), class (c_), order (o_), family (f_) and genus (g_). CON = control group; RPF = rumen-protected fat.

Figure 5

Correlation of fecal bacterial relative abundance at genus level with feces SCFA concentrations. * p < 0.05, and ** p < 0.01 according to correlation coefficient.