Rumen bacterial communities can be acclimated faster to high concentrate diets than currently implemented feedlot programs.

ABSTRACT:

Aims

Recent studies have demonstrated RAMP, a complete starter feed, to have beneficial effects for animal performance. However, how RAMP may elicit such responses is unknown. To understand if RAMP adaptation results in changes in the rumen bacterial community that can potentially affect animal performance, we investigated the dynamics of rumen bacterial community composition in corn-adapted and RAMP-adapted cattle.

Methods and results

During gradual acclimation of the rumen bacterial communities, we compared the bacterial community dynamics in corn and RAMP-adapted using 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing. Significant shifts in bacterial populations across diets were identified. The shift in corn-adapted animals occurred between adaptation step3 and step4, whereas in RAMP-ad

SUBMITTER: Anderson CL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4785609 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature