Longitudinal Bovine Milk Microbiota

The objective of this longitudinal cohort study was to describe the milk microbiota of dairy cow mammary glands based on inflammation status before and after the dry period. Culture-negative milk was long considered sterile but next-generation sequencing technology has revealed DNA from many types of bacteria that were not previously associated with milk. The milk microbiota has been reported to be more diverse in healthy milk than in milk from inflamed mammary glands at one time or over a short time. Therefore, we examined the milk microbiota of healthy and inflamed bovine mammary glands from dryoff through 150 days into the next lactation.