Diet is an important factor affecting intestinal microbiota in horses. Fecal microbiota is commonly used as a substitute for studying hindgut microbiota when investigating the relationship between intestinal microbial changes and host health. So far, no study has compared the difference between the fecal microbiota found in horses that are fed pasture grass, silage, and hay. The present study aims to characterize the fecal microbiota in horses that were exclusively on one of the three forage diets, and to analyze the potential impact of these forages, especially silage, on horse intestinal health. There were 36 horses randomly assigned to each of the three groups; each group was fed only one type of forage for 8 weeks. High throughput sequencing was applied to analyze the bacterial taxa in fecal samples collected from the horses at the end of the feeding trial. The Lachnospiraceae family was statistically more abundant in horses fed with hay, while it was the least abundant in horses fed with silage. The Streptococcaceae spp., considered a core microbial component in equine intestinal microbiota, were present in significantly lower quantities in feces from horses that were fed pasture grass as compared to those from horses fed hay or silage. The novel data may help promote the balancing of horse intestinal microbiota and the maintenance of intestinal health in horses.

中文翻译：

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牧草，青贮饲料和干草饮食对马粪菌群的影响

饮食是影响马肠道菌群的重要因素。在调查肠道微生物变化与宿主健康之间的关系时，粪便微生物群通常用作研究后肠微生物群的替代物。到目前为止，尚无研究可比较在饲喂牧草，青贮饲料和干草的马中发现的粪便微生物群之间的差异。本研究旨在表征仅以三种饲料形式之一的马的粪便微生物群，并分析这些饲料特别是青贮饲料对马肠道健康的潜在影响。有36匹马随机分配到三组中的每一组。每组仅喂一种草料，持续8周。高通量测序被用于分析喂养试验结束时从马匹收集的粪便样品中的细菌类群。这从统计学上讲，饲喂干草的马鞭毛科家族更丰富，而饲喂青贮饲料的马鞭毛科家族最少。被认为是马肠道菌群中核心微生物成分的链球菌属菌种，与饲喂干草或青贮饲料的马粪相比，饲喂牧草的马粪中粪便中的链菌含量显着降低。新数据可能有助于促进马肠道菌群的平衡和马肠道健康的维持。