Rumen bacterial diversity responses to diet among rumen ingesta fractions in a population of steers fed Bermudagrass hay and subsequently grazing winter wheat

Previously we have shown DGGE based qualitative and relative changes in rumen bacterial diversity in the liquid phase associated with transitioning steers from a grass hay diet to grazing winter wheat (Min et al 2006). To extend this work to include more comprehensive evaluation of rumen bacterial populations, the objective of this study was to characterize 16S bacterial diversity in whole rumen content and liquid and fiber fractions derived from a population of 14 ruminally cannulated yearling steers from a common life-time series of environments using next-generation sequencing platforms.