Feeding incremental amounts of ground flaxseed: effects on diversity and relative abundance of ruminal microbiota and enteric methane emissions in lactating dairy cows

Kleves V Almeida; Tales L Resende; Luiz Henrique P Silva; Christopher D Dorich; Andre B D Pereira; Kathy J Soder; Andre F Brito

doi:10.1093/tas/txad050

Feeding incremental amounts of ground flaxseed: effects on diversity and relative abundance of ruminal microbiota and enteric methane emissions in lactating dairy cows

Transl Anim Sci. 2023 May 29;7(1):txad050. doi: 10.1093/tas/txad050. eCollection 2023 Jan.

Authors

Kleves V Almeida¹, Tales L Resende², Luiz Henrique P Silva³, Christopher D Dorich⁴, Andre B D Pereira¹, Kathy J Soder⁵, Andre F Brito¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Agriculture, Nutrition, and Food Systems, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824, USA.
² Escola de Veterinária, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG 30161, Brazil.
³ Department of Agriculture and Food Science, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, KY 42101, USA.
⁴ Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space and Department of Earth Sciences, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824, USA.
⁵ Pasture Systems and Watershed Management Research Unit, USDA-Agricultural Research Service, University Park, PA 16802, USA.

Abstract

We evaluated the effects of incremental amounts of ground flaxseed (GFX) on diversity and relative abundance of ruminal microbiota taxa, enteric methane (CH₄) emissions, and urinary excretion of purine derivatives (PD) in lactating dairy cows in a replicated 4 × 4 Latin square design. Twenty mid-lactation Jersey cows were used in the study. Of these 20 cows, 12 were used for ruminal sampling, 16 for enteric CH₄ measurements, and all for spot urine collection. Each period lasted 21 d with 14 d for diet adaptation and 7 d for data and sample collection. Diets were formulated by replacing corn meal and soybean meal with 0%, 5%, 10%, and 15% of GFX in the diet's dry matter. Ruminal fluid samples obtained via stomach tubing were used for DNA extraction. Enteric CH₄ production was measured using the sulfur hexafluoride tracer technique. Diets had no effect on ruminal microbiota diversity. Similarly, the relative abundance of ruminal archaea genera was not affected by diets. In contrast, GFX decreased or increased linearly the relative abundance of Firmicutes (P < 0.01) and Bacteroidetes (P < 0.01), respectively. The relative abundance of the ruminal bacteria Ruminococcus (P < 0.01) and Clostridium (P < 0.01) decreased linearly, and that of Prevotella (P < 0.01) and Pseudobutyrivibrio (P < 0.01) increased linearly with feeding GFX. A tendency for a linear reduction (P = 0.055) in enteric CH₄ production (from 304 to 256 g/d) was observed in cows fed increasing amounts of GFX. However, neither CH₄ yield nor CH₄ intensity was affected by treatments. Diets had no effect on the urinary excretion of uric acid, allantoin, and total PD. Overall, feeding GFX decreased linearly the relative abundance of the ruminal bacterial genera Ruminococcus and Clostridium and enteric CH₄ production, but no change was seen for CH₄ yield and CH₄ intensity, or urinary excretion of total PD, suggesting no detrimental effect of GFX on microbial protein synthesis in the rumen.

Keywords: archaea; methanogenesis; microbiome; oilseed.