Longitudinal Study of Fecal Microbiota in Calves with or without Diarrhea Episodes before Weaning

Abstract

The microbiota plays an important role in the development of diarrhea in pre-weaned calves. The characterization of the fecal microbiota in health and disease can be critical to unravel the bacterial dynamics associated with diarrhea and help with its prevention and control. In this study, we aimed to detect changes in the fecal microbiota of calves that experienced early-life diarrhea episodes. Fecal samples were taken from calves remaining healthy and calves with an episode of diarrhea during the study. We sampled at arrival (12 days of age) and after one and two months of life; also, at the time of the diarrhea episode for the diarrheic calves (day 17). Samples were processed to extract total DNA, submitted to 16S rRNA gene sequencing, and bioinformatically analyzed to infer the bacterial populations. Microbiota changes through time were reported for both groups. However, we detected an earlier stabilization in the healthy group. Moreover, we detected changes within low abundant taxa that may play a role in the subsequent health status of the animals. The fecal microbiota of healthy and diarrheic calves showed different dynamics in the diversity through time that may be the reflections of the variations within low-abundant taxa.