China Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine ›› 2020, Vol. 47 ›› Issue (4): 1050-1057.doi: 10.16431/j.cnki.1671-7236.2020.04.010

• Animal Nutrition and Feed Science • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Diversity Analysis of Fecal Flora on Pre-weaning Foal and Mare

LI Xiaobin1, LI Hai2, ZANG Changjiang1, LI Chao1, HUANG Xinxin1, MA Lixin1, LI Jiahao1, HUANG Jinlong1, LI Fengming1   

  1. 1. College of Animal Science, Xinjiang Agricultural University, Urumqi 830052, China;
    2. Zhaosu County Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Station, Zhaosu 835699, China
  • Received:2019-07-04 Online:2020-04-20 Published:2020-04-17

Abstract: This experiment was aimed to study the diversity of fecal flora on pre-weaning foal and mare,and provide a basis for enriching the diversity of the intestinal flora of foal.The test selected five thoroughbred mares with similar age of 5-year-old,2-foetus,the average body weight (453.34±54.23) kg healthy mare,and their five foals with similar birth dates(±5 d),the average body weight (185.65±9.54) kg,three males and two females.All horses were kept in the same environment.The same composition and nutrient levels of the mares feeding.The roughage and concentrate supplements purchased by the horses were the same except for breastfeeding.The foals were weaned at 6 months of age.The results showed as followed:Alpha diversity index of Chao1 and ACE in the feces of mares were significantly increased by 18.94% and 15.62% than that of the foals (P < 0.05),respectively.The total number of species shared by mares and foals was 1 399,and the unique species of mares and foals were 150 and 68,respectively.At the phylum level,the top 10 bacteria found in the feces of mares and foals were Firmicutes,Proteobacteria,Bacteroidetes,Actinobacteria,Euryarchaeota,Verrucomicrobia,Spirochaetes,Unidentified_Bacteria,Tenericutesin and Firmicutes abundance in feces of mares was significantly higher than that of foals (P < 0.05).The Bacteroides in feces of mares was 33.93% higher than that of foals,but there was no significant difference (P > 0.05).In conclusion,the diversity of fecal flora was significantly higher than that of pre-weaning foals.Firmicutes,Bacteroides and Proteobacteria were the main bacteria in the feces of mare and pre-weaning foals,and the abundance of Firmicutes and Bacteroides in feces of mare was higher than that of the pre-weaning foals.

Key words: pre-weaning foal; mare; fecal flora; diversity

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