Differences of the Intestinal Microbial Flora Diversity and Composition of Barn Feeding and Grazing Charolais

【Objective】 The objective of this study is to compare the structure and composition of intestinal microbiome of barn feeding and grazing Charolais by using Illumina HiSeq sequencing technology. 【Method】 A total 10 Charolais were used as experimental animals, among them, 5 barn feeding Charolais as CB group and 5 grazing Charolais as CG group. Rectal stool from each Charolais of CB and CG was collected and then total genomic DNA was extracted from the stools. Bacterial diversity and community structure of the samples were analyzed via high throughput sequencing technology Illumina HiSeq. 【Result】 A total of 1,089 OTUs (CB: 1,044; CG: 1,087) were obtained and all OTUs were classified into 12 phylum, 24 class, 33 order, 57 family and 170 genus. Among them Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes were the dominant bacteria shared by the two groups, followed by Verrucomicrobia, Actinobacteria, Euryarchaeota and Proteobacteria; At the family level, the dominant bacteria were Ruminococcaceae, Rikenellaceae, Lachnospiraceae, Peptostreptococcaceae, Prevotellaceae, Christensenellaceae and Bacteroidaceae. The relative abundance of Bacteroidetes, Bacteroidia, Bacteroidales, Rikenellaceae, Peptostreptococcaceae and Paeniclostridium from CB group was significantly higher than that from CG (P<0.05), the relative abundance of Firmicutes and Ruminococcaceae from CG group was significantly higher than that from CB (P<0.05). 【Conclusion】 These results indicate that there are significant differences about structure and composition of intestinal microbiome of barn feeding and grazing Charolais, and grazing Charolais have higher coarse fibre digestion ability.