Prokaryotic Diversity of Ruminal Content and Its Relationship with Methane Emissions in Cattle from Kazakhstan

In this study, we analyzed the microbial composition of the rumen contents of cattle from Kazakhstan. Specifically, samples of the liquid and solid fractions of the rumen were collected to determine the quantitative and qualitative composition of methanogenic archaea. Cattle were six steers receiving hay-concentrate feeding. Methane emission was determined by repeated measurements for each animal. Rumen samples were then taken from fistulas and analyzed using 16S metabarcoding via Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS). The difference between the rumen fractions was investigated, resulting in differential distribution of the families Streptococccaceae, Lactobacillaceae, Desulfobulbaceae, and Succinivibrionaceae, which were more abundant in the liquid fraction, while Thalassospiraceae showed a higher presence in the solid fraction. These differences can be explained by the fact that fibrolytic bacteria are associated with the solid fraction compared to the liquid. A relationship between methane emission and methanogenic microbiota was also observed. Steers producing more methane showed microbiota richer in methanogens; specifically, most Mathanobacteriaceae resided in the liquid fraction and solid fraction of animals 1 and 6, respectively. The same animals carried most of the Methanobrevibacter and Methanosphaera genera. On the contrary, animals 2, 3, and 5 hosted a lower amount of methanogens, which also agreed with the data on methane emissions. In conclusion, this study demonstrated a relationship between methane emission and the content of methanogenic archaea in different rumen fractions collected from cattle in Kazakhstan. As a result of the studies, it was found that the solid fraction of the rumen contained more genera of methanogens than the liquid fraction of the rumen. These results prove that taking rumen contents through a fistula is more useful than taking it through a probe. The presented data may be of interest to scientists from all over the world engaged in similar research in a comparative aspect.