Maternal Rumen Bacteriota Shapes the Offspring Rumen Bacteriota, Affecting the Development of Young Ruminants

Area of Science:

• Microbiology
• Animal Science
• Genetics

Background:

• The maternal rumen microbiota impacts offspring development and growth.
• Understanding heritable rumen microbes in ewes is crucial for lamb growth.
• Limited knowledge exists on the role of maternal heritable rumen bacteria in young ruminant growth.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify heritable rumen bacteria in Hu sheep dams and their offspring.
• To assess the role of these heritable bacteria in lamb growth traits.
• To develop predictive models for lamb growth using rumen bacteria.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of ruminal bacteria from 128 Hu sheep dams and 179 offspring lambs.
• Identification of heritable bacteria using heritability estimates (h² > 0.2, P < 0.05).
• Development of random forest models to predict birth weight, weaning weight, and preweaning gain.

Main Results:

• Approximately 4.0% of prevalent rumen bacteria amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) were heritable.
• Heritable bacteria, particularly Prevotellaceae, significantly influenced lamb growth performance.
• Lamb growth traits were predictable using maternal ASVs, with improved accuracy when including offspring ASVs.

Conclusions:

• Maternal rumen microbiota composition influences offspring's rumen bacteriota and growth.
• Identified heritable rumen bacteria play a role in lamb growth and rumen fermentation.
• Maternal rumen bacteria can serve as predictors for lamb growth traits, aiding selective breeding.