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Cited by 165Gut microbiota and healthVeterinary Equine Medical ResearchRuminant Nutrition and Digestive Physiology

Characterisation of the faecal bacterial community in adult and elderly horses fed a high fibre, high oil or high starch diet using 454 pyrosequencing.

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Dougal, Kirsty, de la Fuente, Gabriel, Harris, Patricia A., Girdwood, Susan E., Pinloche, Eric, Geor, Raymond J., Nielsen, Brian D., Schott, Harold C. +2 more·2014·PLoS ONE
DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0087424PMC PMC3913607
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Abstract

Faecal samples were collected from seventeen animals, each fed three different diets (high fibre, high fibre with a starch rich supplement and high fibre with an oil rich supplement). DNA was extracted and the V1-V2 regions of 16SrDNA were 454-pyrosequenced to investigate the faecal microbiome of the horse. The effect of age was also considered by comparing mature (8 horses aged 5-12) versus elderly horses (9 horses aged 19-28). A reduction in diversity was found in the elderly horse group. Significant differences between diets were found at an OTU level (52 OTUs at corrected Q<0.1). The majority of differences found were related to the Firmucutes phylum (37) with some changes in Bacteroidetes (6), Proteobacteria (3), Actinobacteria (2) and Spirochaetes (1). For the forage only diet,with no added starch or oil, we found 30/2934 OTUs (accounting for 15.9% of sequences) present in all horses. However the core (i.e. present in all horses) associated with the oil rich supplemented diet was somewhat smaller (25/3029 OTUs, 10.3% ) and the core associated with the starch rich supplemented diet was even smaller (15/2884 OTUs, 5.4% ). The core associated with samples across all three diets was extremely small (6/5689 OTUs accounting for only 2.3% of sequences) and dominated by the order Clostridiales, with the most abundant family being Lachnospiraceae. In conclusion, forage based diets plus starch or oil rich complementary feeds were associated with differences in the faecal bacterial community compared with the forage alone. Further, as observed in people, ageing is associated with a reduction in bacterial diversity. However there was no change in the bacterial community structure in these healthy animals associated with age.

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  • Gastrointestinal disorders that have been associated with a low-fiber diet in herbivores include gastric acidosis, dysbiosis, diarrhea, poor digestion, bloat, and displacement of the intestines.

    “Gastrointestinal disorders that have been associated with a low-fiber diet in herbivores include gastric acidosis, dysbiosis, diarrhea, poor digestion, bloat, and displacement of the intestines (Dougal et al., 2014).”

    From Novel Lethal Clostridial Infection in Florida Manatees (Trichechus manatus latirostris): Cause of the 2013 Unusual Mortality Event in the Indian River Lagoon (2022) · cites this paper as Dougal et al., 2014

    The Introduction (page not supplied) reports that high-starch feeding in horses alters colonic microbes and lowers pH, supporting the claim’s dysbiosis and acidity components. The Discussion (page not supplied) suggests that diets other than high-fibre diets may increase metabolic-dysfunction risk, but the copy does not associate low fibre with diarrhea, poor digestion, bloat, or intestinal displacement, or establish the full list for herbivores generally. (LLM, conf=0.88)

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Authors
Dougal, K., de la Fuente, G., Harris, P. A., Girdwood, S. E., Pinloche, E., Geor, R. J., Nielsen, B. D., Schott, H. C., Elzinga, S., & Newbold, C. J.
Affiliations
  • Aberystwyth University (GB)
  • Waltham Centre for Pet Nutrition (GB)
  • Michigan State University (US)
Corresponding author
Newbold, C. Jamie
ORCID
Venue
PLoS ONE
Publisher
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Published
2014-02-04
Volume
9
Issue
2
Pages
e87424
ISSN
1932-6203 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1371/journal.pone.0087424
PMC
PMC3913607
OpenAlex
W1987175401
Cited by
165
References
8
Citations by year
2026: 10 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 25 · 2021: 23 · 2020: 17 · 2019: 13 · 2018: 12 · 2017: 10 · 2016: 13 · 2015: 7 · 2014: 4
FWCI
4.65
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • PLoS ONE (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • RECERCAT (Consorci de Serveis Universitaris de Catalunya) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • Repositori ObertUDL (University of Lleida) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Funders
  • Aberystwyth University
  • Directorate for Biological Sciences
  • Waltham Centre for Pet Nutrition
  • Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBS/E/W/10964A01B, BBS/E/W/10964A01A, BBS/E/W/10964A01C, BB/G017271/1)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Gut microbiota and health
  • Health Sciences › Veterinary › Equine › Veterinary Equine Medical Research
  • Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Agronomy and Crop Science › Ruminant Nutrition and Digestive Physiology
Keywords
horses, diet effects on microbiota, high-fiber diet, starch supplementation, oil supplementation, aging, bacterial diversity, core microbiome, Firmicutes, Clostridiales, Lachnospiraceae, 16S rRNA gene sequencing
MeSH terms
Aging, Animals, Bacteria, Dietary Fats, Unsaturated, Dietary Fiber, Feces, Feeding Behavior, Horses, Phylogeny, Starch, Sequence Analysis, DNA, Biodiversity

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