Acta Veterinaria et Zootechnica Sinica ›› 2022, Vol. 53 ›› Issue (1): 188-199.doi: 10.11843/j.issn.0366-6964.2022.01.019

• ANIMAL NUTRITION AND FEEDS • Previous Articles     Next Articles

The Relationship between the Malnutritional Metabolism and Gut Microbiota Changes in Pregnant Angus Beef Cows with PICA

LI Ziqian1, CHEN Zhuo1, REN Qianglin1, MA Yicheng1, YE Qianwen1, XIA Ruiyang1, WANG Jinquan1, ZHAO Hongqiong1, MA Zhongxiang3, LI Hongbo2*, YAO Gang1*   

  1. 1. College of Veterinary Medicine, Xinjiang Agricultural University, Urumqi 830052, China;
    2. Institute of Animal Science, Xinjiang Academy of Animal Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China;
    3. Xinjiang Daolang Sunshine Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Technology Co., Ltd., Maigaiti 844600, China
  • Received:2021-05-12 Online:2022-01-23 Published:2022-01-26

Abstract: PICA behavior of cattle refers to an abnormal behavior characterized by licking and gnawing some foreign matters without nutritional value, which is often considered to be caused by some nutrients disorders and living environmental confinement. It has been proven that a strong association between gut microbiota and host nutritional metabolism is existed. The link between gut microbiota-gut-brain axis(MGB) and the animal behavior is being revealed. However, there is a lack of enough investigation on the relationship between the occurrence of PICA and the changes of gut microbiota in cattle. In this paper the gut microbiota was compared between PICA cows and the normal ones in order to reveal the possible correlation between gut microbiota and PICA behavior. After the clinical survey for PICA cows in an Angus cow breading farm, 10 healthy Angus pregnant cows as control group (Ctrl) and their 10 counterparts with typical PICA behavior as PICA group (PICA) were chosen.Blood and hair samples were collected to measure the minerals, fat-soluble vitamins (VA, VD, VE), and 17 free amino acids and total serum proteins. Feces samples were collected and the composition and the structure of gut microbiota were analyzed and compared. The results showed that the serum content of Iso and Phe in PICA cows were significantly higher than those in the Ctrl group(P<0.05). Though the α-diversity and β-diversity of gut microbiota in PICA cows were not significantly different from those in the Ctrl group(P>0.05), the relative abundance of Oscillospira and CF231 were significantly lowered than those in the Ctrl groups (P<0.05)。Pearson correlation analysis showed that there was a significant negative correlation between Iso content and the relative abundance of CF231, as well as Phe and Tenericutes (P<0.05). The results suggest that the changes of Iso and Phe contents in the serum and the changes of Oscillospira and CF231 relative abundance in gut microbiota could be associated with the generation of PICA behavior in Angus cows, which provides a possibility for developing a therapeutic way to treat PICA via gut microbiota manipulation.

Key words: Angus beef cow, PICA, nutritional metabolites, gut microbiota

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