Nordic Red dairy cows ruminal and fecal bacteria, 16S rRNA gene V4 region amplicons

Six multiparous Nordic-Red dairy cows were ranked during their 1st lactation as efficient (n=6) or non-efficient (n=6) based on residual energy intake (L-REI and H-REI) phenotype. Cows were fed two diets, based on grass silage supplemented with either low (30% of DM, diet LC) or high (50% of DM, diet HC) proportion of concentrates. The objective of this experiment was to evaluate two hypotheses: 1) animal production traits differ between cows with different feed efficiency phenotype 2) feed efficient dairy cows produce less methane than non-efficient cows, and differences could be linked to rumen and/or fecal microbiome.