Evaluating the Quantitative Accuracy and Application of DNA Metabarcoding for Dietary Reconstruction in Ruminants.

ABSTRACT: DNA metabarcoding offers a powerful, non-invasive tool to identify dietary composition with high taxonomic resolution, yet its quantitative accuracy and bias remain a well-recognised limitation across taxa and sample types. This universal challenge is particularly evident in herbivores, where plant material introduces additional amplification constraints. This study evaluates the accuracy of DNA metabarcoding in reconstructing the diets of sheep under controlled feeding trials involving high and low digestibility forage, using two widely used plant DNA barcodes (ITS2 and trnL). A secondary trial tested the detectability and proportional representation of a target species, Medicago sativa, when added to the diet in varying amounts (1%, 5%, 10%). ITS2 provided greater species-l

SUBMITTER: Vallin H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12801136 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature