The effects of signalment, diet, geographic location, season, and colitis associated with antimicrobial use or Salmonella infection on the fecal microbiome of horses

Background The fecal microbiome of healthy horses may be influenced by signalment, diet, environmental factors, and disease. Objectives To assess the effects of age, breed, sex, geographic location, season, diet, and colitis caused by antibiotic use (antimicrobial‐associated diarrhea [AAD]) and Salm...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of veterinary internal medicine 2021-09, Vol.35 (5), p.2437-2448
Main Authors: Arnold, Carolyn E., Pilla, Rachel, Chaffin, M. Keith, Leatherwood, Jessica L., Wickersham, Tryon A., Callaway, Todd R., Lawhon, Sara D., Lidbury, Jonathan A., Steiner, Joerg M., Suchodolski, Jan S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
antibiotic
Antibiotics
Antimicrobial agents
Defecation
Deoxyribonucleic acid
Diarrhea
Diet
Disease prevention
DNA
EQUINE
Feces
gastrointestinal
Gastrointestinal diseases
Grasses
Horses
Inflammatory bowel disease
Laboratories
Metabolism
Microbiota
Polymerase chain reaction
Population
Salmonella
Teaching hospitals
Veterinarians
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Background The fecal microbiome of healthy horses may be influenced by signalment, diet, environmental factors, and disease. Objectives To assess the effects of age, breed, sex, geographic location, season, diet, and colitis caused by antibiotic use (antimicrobial‐associated diarrhea [AAD]) and Salmonella infection on fecal microbiota. Animals Healthy horses (n = 80) were sampled from nonhospital environments across multiple geographical locations in the United States. Horses with AAD (n = 14) were defined as those that developed diarrhea secondary to antimicrobial use. Horses with Salmonella infection (n = 12) were presented with spontaneous onset of colitis and subsequently tested positive on Salmonella quantitative polymerase chain reaction. All horses were >1 year of age and stratified by a dietary scale that included forages (pasture and hay) and concentrates grouped by percentage of fiber and amount. Methods Illumina sequencing of 16S rRNA genes was performed on fecal DNA. Results Healthy horses fed higher amounts of grain clustered separately from those fed lower amounts of grain (analysis of similarities [ANOSIM], R = 0.356‐0.385, Q = 0.002). Horses with AAD and Salmonella had decreased richness and evenness compared to healthy horses (P 
ISSN:0891-6640
1939-1676
DOI:10.1111/jvim.16206