The effect of lifetime nutrition on the rumen microbiome and how this effects the lifetime performance and meat quality of aberdeen angus cattle. Nutritional impacts on rumen microbiome and meat quality

Aberdeen angus cattle have been raised on diets to promote different growth speeds; concentrate only diet for fast growth, high abundance of high quality forage (perennial ryegrass) for medium growth and restricted low quality forage grazing for slow growth. Once cattle had reached pre determined fat grade they were slaughtered and the meat was analysed for factors including fatty acid content, taste and shelf life. Alongside this rumen fluid samples were taken at slaughter for metagenomic analysis using full metagenome shotgun sequencing. This metagenome data will be compared with the meat analysis and other performance data taken throughout the experiment to assess the effect of nutrition on the rumen microbiome and how that effects the phenotype of the animal.