China Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine ›› 2023, Vol. 50 ›› Issue (2): 543-555.doi: 10.16431/j.cnki.1671-7236.2023.02.012

• Nutrition and Feed • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Effect of Lactobacillus acidophilus on the Intestinal Flora of Horses Before and After Transport

YIN Fangfang1, QU Rui4, YE Mengjun1, HOU Meng1, MA Xuejun3, PENG Qimin1, CHEN Weili2, LU Yabin1, MAI Zhanhai1, WANG Jinquan1   

  1. 1. College of Veterinary Medicine, Xinjiang Agricultural University, Urumqi 830052, China;
    2. Urumqi County Agricultural Products Quality and Safety Testing Center, Urumqi 830000, China;
    3. Changji City Erliu Gong Town Agriculture (Animal Husbandry) Development Service Center, Changji 831105, China;
    4. Alashankou Customs, People's Republic of China, Bortala 833418, China
  • Received:2022-07-24 Online:2023-02-05 Published:2023-02-06

Abstract: 【Objective】 The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of transport stress on the intestinal flora of horses,and to explore the preventive effect of Lactobacillus acidophilus on transport stress in horses.【Method】 For the experiment,ten 24-month-old Ili horses were chosen and randomly divided into test group and control group.After all horses had been acclimatized for one week,the test group was formally fed Lactobacillus acidophilus capsules in their diets,while the control group was fed the diets without any adjustment.After 15 d of feeding,the test group and the control group were transported at the same time on day 16 over a distance of about 400 km.The jugular blood of the control group was collected before and after the transportation for physiological indicators detection,and the horse feces were collected before feeding,15 days after feeding and 8 hours after transportation.The sample before feeding the bacteria in the test group was set as group A1,the sample after feeding the bacteria for 15 d was set as group A2,the sample after transportation for 8 h was set as group A3,and the sample after transportation for 8 h in the control group was set as group T3.Analyzing the variety of equine intestinal flora involved high-throughput sequencing on the Illumina MiSeq platform.【Result】 Blood physiological indices before and after transport in the control group showed that the intermediate cell ratio and hemoglobin were significant decreased (P<0.05),and the hemoglobin concentration was extremely significantly decreased (P<0.01) after 8 h of transport.Supplemental feeding of Lactobacillus acidophilus and transportation could cause differences in the composition of intestinal flora in horses.Supplemental feeding of Lactobacillus acidophilus increased the population of helpful bacteria,including Rikenellaceae_RC9_gut_group and Lachnospiraceae_AC2044_group,while transport increased the quantity of harmful bacteria,including Bacteroidetes and Proteobacteria.【Conclusion】 Transportation could cause stress reaction of horses.Adding Lactobacillus acidophilus to the diet could restore the intestinal flora disorder of horses caused by transportation stress,and increase a small amount of beneficial bacteria,so as to alleviate the flora disorder caused by transportation and had a beneficial impact on the body.

Key words: Lactobacillus acidophilus; gut microbiota; horse; transportation

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