Effects of maternal rumen microbiota on the development of the microbial communities in the gastrointestinal tracts of neonatal sika deer

This study investigated whether the microbial assemblages in the gastrointestinal tracts (GITs) of sika deer calves can be manipulated by maternal rumen microbiota transplantation (MRMT). The results suggest that MRMT had no significant effect on the growth of calves but markedly lowered the duration of diarrhea and increased rumen fermentation in sika deer calves. Sequencing analysis of 16S rRNA gene amplicons revealed that MRMT increased the ability of some microbial taxa to colonize the GIT or enabled the colonization of others, which caused the ruminal microbial communities in sika deer calves to shift such that they resembled those of their mothers and promoted the temporal development of gut microbial diversity in deer calves. Moreover, after inoculation, 7 inoculum-dominant taxa (<italic>Butyrivibrio</italic>, <italic>Tenericute</italic>,<italic> RFP12</italic>, <italic>SR1</italic>, <italic>Verrucomicrobia</italic>, <italic>Verruco-5</italic>, and <italic>WCHB1-4</italic>) and one inoculum-dominant taxon (<italic>Butyrivibrio)</italic> were significantly enriched in the rumen and feces of the sika deer calves, respectively. These data suggest that MRMT may be an effective approach for promoting microbial establishment in the GIT and preventing diarrhea in sika deer calves.