Abstract

Rumen microbial communities (RMC) have been shown to be affected by the host individual’s genetics and are heritable in sheep and cattle. RMC are predictive of feed related traits such as methane emissions, a by-product of the fermentation process. The aim of this project was to determine the variability in RMC amongst deer and to estimate heritability of the deer RMC. The rumen contents of 409 red and wapiti cross deer were sampled, and microbial DNA was sequenced. The genome taxonomy database was used to determine taxonomy assignment at the genus level. Sequences were used to determine similarity of RMC amongst individuals and presence of known microbes. Similar to other ruminants, Prevotella was the most abundant genus present in the deer RMC. Dimension reduction methods were applied to three standardisation methods to examine the variation in the RMC. Heritability estimates for the first two components of the reduced dimensions of the RMC ranged from 0.078 (± 0.058) to 0.72 (± 0.21) across the standardisation methods. This suggests that the deer RMC is controlled by host genomics.

Clarke, J.L., Bilton T.P., Henry H., McRae K.M., Booker F., Veenvliet B., Bain W., Ward J.A., Thompson B., McEwan J.C., et al.

New Zealand Journal of Animal Science and Production, Volume 84, , 19-22, 2024