Effect of pre-weaning diet on the rumen archaeal, bacterial and fungal diversity of dairy calves

At birth, calves display an underdeveloped rumen that eventually matures as a result of solid food intake and microbial activity. However, little is known regarding the gradual impacts of pre-weaning diet on the establishment of the rumen microbiota. Here, we employed next-generation sequencing technology to investigate the effects of the inclusion of starter concentrate (M: only milk-fed and MC: milk plus starter concentrate) on archaeal, bacterial and fungal communities in the rumen of 45 crossbred dairy calves across pre-weaning development (7, 28, 49 and 63 days).