Objective: To analyze the diversity of bacterial community in rectum of diarrheic calves, and differences with health calves.
Methods: 16S rRNA clone libraries were constructed, positive clones were digested by Msp I and Hha I for restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP), and then a phylogenetic tree was depicted based on the 16S rRNA sequencing, to confirm the compose of microbe in the diarrheic calf rectum.
Results: The positive rate of clone was 98.75% (474/480) in diarrheic calves, the dominant bacteria included Lactobacillus (14%), Enterococcus (10%) and Escherichia (8%). The positive rate of clone was 96.45% (488/506) in health samples, the dominant bacteria included Clostridium (13%), Bifidobacterium (8%), Megasphaera (5%).
Conclusion: Complexity and diversity of bacterial community in rectum in 2 weeks old calves had their own features, and significant increase of Lactobacillus, Enterococcus and Escherichia was found in diarrhea calves.