Jejunal mucosa-associated and digesta microbiome from German Holstein dairy cows exposed to heat stress, control conditions, or pair-feeding

The present study aims to elucidate the effects of chronic heat stress (HS) and pair-feeding (PF) at thermoneutrality on the microbiota composition of the jejunal digesta and mucosa of dairy cows, by investigating the relationship between the gut microbiota, digesta fluid and plasma metabolites. Microbial DNA isolated from digesta pellets and mucosa scrapings of 30 primiparous, non-pregnant German Holstein cows (n = 10 HS; n = 10 CON, n = 10 PF) were analysed by 16S sequencing.