학술논문
Microbiota characterization throughout the digestive tract of horses fed a high-fiber vs. a high-starch diet
Document Type
article
Author
Source
Frontiers in Veterinary Science, Vol 11 (2024)
Subject
Language
English
ISSN
2297-1769
Abstract
IntroductionDiet is one of the main factors influencing the intestinal microbiota in horses, yet a systematic characterization of the microbiota along the length of the digestive tract in clinically healthy horses, homogenous for age and breed and receiving a specific diet is lacking.MethodsThe study used 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing to characterize the microbiota of the intestinal tracts of 19 healthy Bardigiano horses of 14.3 ± 0.7 months of age fed one of two diets. Nine horses received a high-starch diet (HS), and ten horses received a high-fiber diet (HF). After 129 days, the horses were slaughtered, and samples were collected from the different intestinal tract compartments.Results and discussionThe microbiota alpha diversity indices were lower in the caecum, pelvic flexure and right dorsal colon of the horses fed the HS diet (False Discovery Rate, FDR