Can We Use Probiotics to Improve Feed Efficiency?
Project Title
Synergistic Rumen Microbial Consortia: A Probiotic Approach to Augmenting Feed Utilization Efficiency
Researchers
Dr. Tim McAllister (AAFC Lethbridge Research and Development Centre)
Leluo Guan, Ph.D. (University of British Columbia), Robert Gruninger Ph.D., and Ajay Badhan, Ph.D. (AAFC Lethbridge Research and Development Centre)
| Status | Project Code |
|---|---|
| In progress. Results expected in March, 2027 | FDE.02.24 |
Background
Methane emissions are not only harmful to the environment, but they are also a sign of inefficiency and lost dollars. Cattle who emit more methane tend to use feed less efficiently and therefore cost more to feed and maintain. Studies show cattle with less diverse rumen microbiota tend to be more efficient, which suggests this may be an area to focus on to improve feed efficiency and reduce methane emissions.
Objective
- Develop two probiotics based on synthetic rumen microbial community.
What They Will Do
Current probiotics change the rumen environment to favour certain types of bacteria. This team wants to change the bacteria itself, so they will attempt to develop a prebiotic that will manipulate the rumen environment towards better fibre digestion and therefore more efficient cattle.
The team will collect rumen microbes from high-feed-efficiency animals—those with low residual feed intake (RFI) on a forage-based diet. Next, they will culture the microbes to select for those with the ability to digest low-quality forages. They will use metagenomics to determine the composition of the microbial communities and evaluate them for differences in how they break down fibrous products.
The team will then use cryopreservation (freezing) to determine the viability of these products for commercial use and see if they will survive after storage. Finally, they will use batch culture fermentation to test how these bacteria interact in the rumen as well as analyze the effects of stress responses post transfer.
Implications
This project is a lab bench study and will not advance to animal testing at this point but will develop a gene bank of potentially useful methanogens and other bacteria. It is the first step towards creating a probiotic product that could be used to improve feed efficiency.