Differences in bacterial diversity across indigenous and introduced ruminants in the Qinghai Tibetan plateau
Xiaodan Huang
A B , Stuart Edward Denman B , Jiandui Mi B C , Jagadish Padmanabha B , Lizhuang Hao E , Ruijun Long D F and Christopher S. McSweeney B
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A School of Public Health, Lanzhou University, No. 222, South Tianshui Road, Lanzhou, 730000, China.
B CSIRO Agriculture and Food, Queensland Bioscience Precinct, 306 Carmody Road, St Lucia, Qld 4067, Australia.
C College of Animal Science, South China Agricultural University, No. 483, Wushan Road, Guangzhou, 510642, China.
D School of Life Science, Lanzhou University, No. 222, South Tianshui Road, Lanzhou, 730000, China.
E Academy of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine of Qinghai University, Key Laboratory of Plateau Grazing Animal Nutrition and Feed Science of Qinghai Province, No. 251, Ningda Road, Xining, 810016, China.
F Corresponding author. Email: longrj@lzu.edu.cn
Animal Production Science - https://doi.org/10.1071/AN20204
Submitted: 29 March 2020 Accepted: 5 March 2021 Published online: 23 April 2021
Abstract
Context: The Qinghai Tibetan plateau (QTP) is characterised as a harsh high-altitude environment inhabited by a large number of ruminants. Rumen microorganisms potentially play a vital role in the adaptation of indigenous ruminants to this harsh environment.
Aims: The present study aimed to investigate the diversity of rumen bacteria in ruminants (yak and Tibetan sheep) indigenous to the QTP and introduced species (cattle and crossbred sheep).
Methods: Rumen bacterial composition and α and β diversity of indigenous and introduced ruminants were analysed based on 16s rDNA sequence data.
Key results: Most of the sequences from all animals were affiliated with phylum Bacteroidetes (67.6–84.0%), followed by Firmicutes (11.6–21.0%). The β diversity (Bray–Curtis and weighted-Unifrac distance matrices) of bacteria was significantly different among ruminant species yak (Bos grunniens), cattle (Bos taurus) and sheep (Ovis aries), but there were no differences between the indigenous and introduced sheep breeds. At the genus level, Fibrobacter, Lachnospira and Pseudobutyrivibrio were more abundant (P < 0.05) in the rumen of yak, while Prevotella was significantly (P < 0.05) more abundant in cattle than in the other ruminants; enterotypes affiliated with the uncultured Ruminococcaceae and Prevotella was more dominant in the indigenous and introduced ruminants respectively.
Conclusions: The ruminant species was the main factor distinguishing the rumen bacterial diversity among the ruminants grazing on the QTP, although there were differences in discrete populations of bacteria between indigenous and introduced ruminants. It appears that yak, which has evolved as a distinctive species with specialised physiological and anatomical adaptations, has a rumen bacterial population that favours its survival in this extreme environment.
Implications: This work extends the findings of previous studies comparing microbiota from different ruminants in the QTP, and provides a basis for exploration of the interactions governing the tri-partite relationship among host, rumen microbiota and the harsh environment, and indicates the potential of rumen microbiota in assisting the adaptation of host to the harsh environment.
Keywords: bacteria diversity, ruminants, yak, tibetan sheep, adaptation.
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