Theses and Dissertations

Issuing Body

Mississippi State University

Advisor

Henry A. Paz

Committee Member

Jean Feugang

Committee Member

Shengfa Liao

Committee Member

Trent Smith

Date of Degree

8-6-2021

Original embargo terms

Visible to MSU only for 6 months

Document Type

Graduate Thesis - Open Access

Major

Agricultural and Life Sciences

Degree Name

Master of Science

Degree Name

Master of Science (M.S.)

College

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

College

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

Department

Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences

Department

Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences

Abstract

Manure nitrogen in dairy cattle represents a substantial economic and environmental loss to the industry. Current strategies used to improve N efficiency (Neff) have shown limited progress and thus, warrant more effective approaches. Considering that the gastrointestinal bacterial community has been associated with various phenotypes of economic importance, the objective of this project was to evaluate the associations between the rumen and fecal bacteriomes and Neff phenotypes in dairy cows. Results showed similarities in the overall bacterial community composition and structure of cows differing in Neff. However, the relative abundance of specific bacterial ASV differed between low and high Neff cows. Furthermore, bacterial ASV strongly correlated with Neff could be involved in processes such as nutrient supply, performance, and feed efficiency. These suggest that the gastrointestinal bacterial community is a factor influencing Neff in dairy cows and specific bacterial members can potentially serve as markers of Neff phenotypes.

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