Comparative studies of the composition of bacterial microbiota associated with the ruminal content, ruminal epithelium and in the faeces of lactating dairy cows

The objective of this research was to compare the composition of bacterial microbiota associated with the ruminal content (RC), ruminal epithelium (RE) and faeces of Holstein dairy cows. The RC, RE and faecal samples were collected from six Holstein dairy cows when the animals were slaughtered. Community compositions of bacterial 16S rRNA genes from RC, RE and faeces were determined using a MiSeq sequencing platform with bacterial-targeting universal primers 338F and 806R. UniFrac analysis revealed that the bacterial communities of RC, RE and faeces were clearly separated from each other. Statistically significant dissimilarities were observed between RC and faeces (P = 0.002), between RC and RE (P = 0.003), and between RE and faeces (P = 0.001). A assignment of sequences to taxa showed that the abundance of the predominant phyla Bacteroidetes was lower in RE than in RC, while a significant higher (P < 0.01) abundance of Proteobacteria was present in RE than in RC. When compared with the RC, the abundance of Firmicutes and Verrucomicrobia was higher in faeces, and RC contained a greater abundance of Bacteroidetes and Tenericutes. A higher proportions of Butyrivibrio and Campylobacter dominated RE as compared to RC. The faecal microbiota was less diverse than RC and dominated by genera Turicibacter and Clostridium. In general, these findings clearly demonstrated the striking compositional differences among RC, RE and faeces, indicating that bacterial communities are specific and adapted to the harbouring environment.