Study on diversity of structural composition of yaks intestinal flora at different altitudes

Abstract:

Exploring the structure composition of the intestinal microflora of yaks in different altitudes will be to provide help for the breeding and communication of yaks in different altitudes. In this study, fresh fecal samples of 12 yaks were randomly collected at an altitude of 2 897 to 4 717 m. Using 16S rDNA technology to determine the metagenome of samples, and the OTU abundance of intestinal microflora of yaks at high and low altitudes was compared and analyzed, and then the structural composition of the intestinal microflora of yaks at high and low altitudes also be studied. The results showed that the composition of the intestinal microflora of yak in the phylum, class, order, family, genus and species levels is different between high and low altitude areas. The intestinal flora of yak in high and low altitude areas had 8 bacteria that had significant differences at the genus level (P< 0.05). In conclusion, there were certain differences in the composition of the intestinal microflora of yaks at high and low altitudes, and the OTU abundances of intestinal microflora of yaks at low altitude displayed higher species richness than those in high altitude.