Diversity of the Intestinal Bacteria of Cattle Fed on Diets with Different Doses of Gelatinized Starch-Urea.

ABSTRACT: Gelatinized starch-urea (Starea, SU) is an effective and economical source of urea for ruminants. Here we assessed the influence of dietary supplementation with gelatinized starch-urea on the diversity of intestinal bacteria in finishing cattle. Fifty steers were randomly allotted to five treatments with diets supplemented with different doses of Starea [0 % (SU0), 8 % (SU8), 16 % (SU16), 24 % (SU24), and 32 % (SU32) of urea-N in total nitrogen]. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) of 16S rRNA genes was used to examine the effect of dietary supplementation of Starea on intestinal bacterial flora. Shannon-Weaver and Simpson diversity indices consistently showed the lowest bacterial diversity in the SU0 treatment. Increasing doses of Starea increased the diversity up to SU24 after

SUBMITTER: Cui Z 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4456495 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature