16S- and metagenomics-based characterization of rumen bacterial communities from the rumen of beef steers fed diets with high inclusion of triglycerides

Five ruminal cannulated steers were used as part of a 5 x 5 Latin square, with treatment or control diets provided across 12-day periods. All diets were based on dry-rolled corn, alfalfa hay, linseed meal and liquid cane molasses; treatment diets differed in the amount and type of lipid that was supplemented, with the addition of 4% or 8% of tallow (mostly saturated lipids) or linseed oil (mostly unsaturated lipids). Rumen contents for microbiome analysis were collected on the last day of the treatment period.Microbial DNA was extracted from rumen samples using a bead beating plus column method. The V1-V3 region of the bacterial 16S rRNA was targeted by PCR, then amplicons were sequenced using an Illumina MiSeq(2X300) platform. Select samples were sequenced using a shotgun approach with a Illumina MiSeq(2X250) platform.