China Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine ›› 2020, Vol. 47 ›› Issue (7): 2312-2324.doi: 10.16431/j.cnki.1671-7236.2020.07.038

• Environmental Safety • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Effects of Cold and Warm Season on Grazing Behavior and Rumen Microbial Diversity of Free-range Yak

LI Chen1, ANUM Ali Ahmad2, ZHANG Jianbo1, LIANG Zeyi1, DING Xuezhi1, YAN Ping1   

  1. 1. Gansu Key Laboratory of Yak Breeding Engineering, Lanzhou Institute of Husbandry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou 730050, China;
    2. School of Life Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
  • Received:2020-01-21 Online:2020-07-20 Published:2020-07-18

Abstract: The aim of the study was to investigate the grazing behavior and rumen microbiology profile of yak in different seasons,in order to provide the scientific basis for improving yak production performance and the animal production transformation efficiency.Nine healthy yaks with similar body weight were selected as the experimental animals,and the trail was conducted in January 2019 and September 2019,respectively.Rumen fluid was collected to analyze the rumen environmental parameters and rumen microbial diversity.The MOOnitor system was adopted to record the grazing behavior.The results showed that the grazing behavior and spatial distribution of yak varies with the season variations of forage yield and nutrition quality.The time spending for rest and rumination (13.378 h/d),grazing (5.174 h/d),and ruminating (8.160 h/d) of yak was significantly decreased in cold season compared with those in warm season (P<0.05),however,the walking time was significantly increased in cold season (P<0.05).The spatial distribution of grazing was more dispersed in cold season.The content of ammonia nitrogen,acetate,propionate,isobutyrate,valerate and total volatile fatty acids in rumen fluid,and the ratio of acetate to propionate were decreased significantly during cold season (P<0.05).However,microbial protein and isovaleric acid content in rumen were significantly increased in cold season (P<0.05).At the level of phylum,Bacteroidetes increased significantly (P<0.05) and Firmicutes decreased significantly (P<0.05) in cold season.At the genus level,cellulose-decomposing bacteria was dominate in rumen fluid of yak in cold season.In conclusion,in cold season,yak reduced the time for grazing,ruminating and rest,and increased the time for walking within a greater space to cope with the lower forage biomass and nutrition quality.In the meantime,the rumen digestion metabolism and microbiology were also changed in cold season in order to improve the energy intake and body utilization efficiency to cope with the deficiency of forage.

Key words: yak; cold season; warm season; grazing behavior; rumen microbiota

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