Environmental enrichment changes rabbits' behavior, serum hormone level and further affects cecal microbiota

Yang Feng; Huimei Fan; Xue Liang; Xiaofeng Wang; Guoyan Gao; Shuangbao Gun

doi:10.7717/peerj.13068

Environmental enrichment changes rabbits' behavior, serum hormone level and further affects cecal microbiota

PeerJ. 2022 Mar 9:10:e13068. doi: 10.7717/peerj.13068. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Yang Feng¹, Huimei Fan², Xue Liang¹, Xiaofeng Wang¹, Guoyan Gao¹, Shuangbao Gun¹

Affiliations

¹ College of Animal Science and Technology, Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou, Gansu, China.
² College of Animal Science and Technology, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China.

Abstract

Many studies have shown that stress is associated with gut microbiota. Environmental enrichment (EE) could reduce stress in farm animals; however, limited information is available on the microbial community composition in rabbits raised with or without EE. This study aimed to identify EE influences on the behavior, serum hormonal levels, and cecal microbiota of rabbits. Two hundred Rex rabbits were segregated randomly within four cohorts (n = 50); reared for 76 d within standardized enclosures (non-enriched) or within cages containing a willow-stick (WS), rubber-duck (RD), or a can of beans (CB). The rabbits' ingestive, rest, locomotion, exploratory, grooming, and abnormal behavior were observed. The serum hormone levels for rabbits were measured, and cecal specimens were sequencedfrom the V3-V4 region using 16S rRNA amplicons. Environmental enrichment increased feeding and drinking time, promoted exploratory behavior, and reduced abnormal behavior in rabbits. Insulin-like growth factor 1(IGF-1) levels of the enriched cohorts were elevated in comparison to the control cohort. Serum cortisol level for CB cohort was markedly reduced in comparison to the control cohort (p < 0.05), while dopamine levels for CB cohort peaked. Further, we found that EE mainly affected the dominant microbiota. Several families, such as Erysipelotrichaceae, Tannerellaceae, Enterobacteriaceae, Burkholderiaceae, and Prevotellaceae were markedly reduced within the CB cohort. Bacteria such as Alloprevotella, Bifidobacterium, Enterobacteriaceae, Parabacteroides, and Erysipelatoclostridium were identified as having negative associations with the presence of serum cortisol. EE influenced rabbit behavior and serum hormonal levels, and CB enrichment was the most suitable for rabbits. Further, cecal microbiota composition and diversity were affected by CB enrichment. These findings suggested that CB could be considered for use in rabbit husbandry.

Keywords: Cecal microbiota; Environmental enrichment; Rabbit behavior; Rabbit husbandry; Rex rabbits.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Eating
Gastrointestinal Microbiome*
Hydrocortisone
Microbiota*
RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / genetics
Rabbits

Substances

RNA, Ribosomal, 16S
Hydrocortisone

Grants and funding

This work was funded by the Youth Science and Technology Fund (20JR10RA547) and Discipline Construction Fund Project of Gansu Agricultural University (GAU-XKJS-2018-053). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.