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. 2024 May 20:15:1364517.
doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2024.1364517. eCollection 2024.

Prickly ash seeds can promote healthy production of sheep by regulating the rumen microbial community

Dengpan Li  1   2 , Qiao Li  1   2 , Xueyi Ma  1   2 , Huihui Wang  1   2 , Chunhui Wang  1   2 , Haoyu Wang  1   2 , Zhanjing Liu  1   3 , Taotao Li  1   2 , Youji Ma  1   2
Affiliations

Prickly ash seeds can promote healthy production of sheep by regulating the rumen microbial community

Dengpan Li et al. Front Microbiol. .

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the effect of prickly ash seeds (PAS) on the microbial community found in rumen microbes of Hu sheep by adding different percentages of prickly ash seeds and to carry out research on the relation between rumen flora and production performance. Twenty-seven male lambs of Hu sheep were classified into three groups based on the content of prickly ash seeds (PAS) fed for 90 days, i.e., 0%, 3%, and 6%. At the end of the feeding trial, rumen fluid samples were collected from six sheep in each group for 16S amplicon sequencing. The results showed that the addition of prickly ash seeds significantly increased both Chao1 and ACE indices (P < 0.05), and the differences between groups were greater than those within groups. The relative content of Bacteriodota decreased, and the relative content of Fusobacteriota, Proteobacteria, Acidobacteriota, and Euryarchaeota increased. The relative content of Papillibacter and Saccharofermentans was increased at the genus level, and the relative content of Bacteroides and Ruminococcus was decreased. The test group given 3% of prickly ash seeds was superior to the test group given 6% of prickly ash seeds. In addition, the addition of 3% of prickly ash seeds improved the metabolism or immunity of sheep. Fusobacteriota and Acidobacteriota were positively correlated with total weight, dressing percentage, and average daily gain (ADG) and negatively correlated with average daily feed intake (ADFI), feed-to-gain ratio (F/G), and lightness (L*). Methanobrevibacter and Saccharofermentans were positively correlated with ADG and negatively correlated with ADFI and L*. In conclusion, under the present experimental conditions, the addition of prickly ash seeds increased the abundance and diversity of rumen microorganisms in Hu sheep and changed the relative abundance of some genera. However, the addition of 6% prickly ash seeds may negatively affect the digestive and immune functions in sheep rumen.

Keywords: 16S rRNA; prickly ash seeds; production property; rumen microbial; sheep.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Sequencing results and statistical analysis of diversity. (A) The Venn diagram shows three groups of common or unique OTUs. (B) Rarefaction curve for all samples. (C) Rank abundance. (D) Species accumulation boxplot. (E) Violin plots of the number of observed_otus values between the three groups. (F) Violin plots of the number of ACE index values between the three groups. (G) Violin plots of the number of PD_whole_tree index values between the three groups. (H) Violin plots of the number of Shannon index values between the three groups. (I) Violin plots of the number of Goods_coverage between the three groups. (J) Violin plots of the number of Simpson index values between the three groups. (K) Violin plots of the number of Chao1 index values between the three groups.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Cluster analysis and microbial composition. (A) Principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) based on all samples. (B) Principal component analysis (PCA) based on all samples. (C) OTU-based difference analysis of Anosim between groups. (D) Non-Metric Multi-Dimensional Scaling (NMDS) based on all samples. (E) Unweighted UniFrac distance UPGMA clustering tree based on OUT.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Relative abundance of rumen flora at the phylum level. (A) Microbial composition between the three groups at the phylum level. (B) Microbial composition of all samples at the phylum level between the three groups. (C) OTU-based species abundance heat maps for different groups at the phylum level. (D) Ternary-phase diagram based on the phylum level. (E) Contribution of Simper difference between group CK and group A based on the phylum level. (F) Contribution of Simper difference between group CK and group B based on the phylum level.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Relative abundance of rumen flora at the genus level. (A) Microbial composition between the three groups at the genus level. (B) Microbial composition of all samples at the genus level between the three groups (C) OTU-based species abundance heat maps for different groups at the genus level. (D) Ternary-phase diagram based on the genus level. (E) Contribution of Simper difference between group CK and group A based on the genus level. (F) Contribution of Simper difference between group CK and group B based on the genus level.
Figure 5
Figure 5
LEfSe analysis and PICRUST2 function prediction. (A) Functional differences between group CK and group A. (B) OTU-based evolutionary branching diagram between group CK and group A. (C) OTU-based evolutionary branching diagram between group CK and group B. (D) LDA value distribution histogram based on OTU between group CK and group B. (E) Functional differences between group CK and group B. (F) LDA value distribution histogram based on OTU between group CK and group A.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Correlation analysis between microorganisms and production traits. (A) Thermal map analysis of correlation between phylum level microorganisms and production traits. (B) Thermal map analysis of correlation between genus level microorganisms and production traits.
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