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ARS Home » Plains Area » Bushland, Texas » Conservation and Production Research Laboratory » Livestock Nutrient Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #412039
Research Project: Strategies to Manage Feed Nutrients, Reduce Gas Emissions, and Promote Soil Health for Beef and Dairy Cattle Production Systems of the Southern Great Plains

Location: Livestock Nutrient Management Research

Title: Connecting the ruminant microbiome to climate change: Insights from current ecological and evolutionary concepts

Author
item Frazier, Anthony
item Beck, Matthew
item Waldrip, Heidi
item Koziel, Jacek

Submitted to: Frontiers in Microbiology
Publication Type: Review Article
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/11/2024
Publication Date: 12/2/2024
Citation: Frazier, A.N., Beck, M.R., Waldrip, H., Koziel, J.A. 2024. Connecting the ruminant microbiome to climate change: Insights from current ecological and evolutionary concepts. Frontiers in Microbiology. 15:Article 1503315. Available: https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2024.1503315.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2024.1503315

Interpretive Summary: Methane (CH4) is a potent greenhouse gas (GHG) that has major impact on climate change policies in the United States. Agriculture, primarily from the cattle industry, is the largest sector for anthropogenic methane (CH4) emissions. Recently, there has been a major push for CH4 mitigation strategies in livestock ruminants. These strategies include the use of feeding, dietary, and rumen manipulations. Moreover, research has begun investigating the role of the ruminant native microbiome and the role microbes play in CH4 production and mitigation. Herein, researchers at USDA ARS-Bushland (Texas) reviewed the current literature regarding how CH4 mitigation strategies interact with the ruminant microbiome. This review provides perspectives on how current knowledge could explain the ruminant microbial ecosystem within the context of CH4 mitigation.

Technical Abstract: Ruminant livestock provide meat, milk, wool, and other products required for human subsistence. Within the digestive tract of ruminant animals, the rumen houses a complex and diverse microbial ecosystem. These microbes generate many of the nutrients that are needed by the host animal for maintenance and production. However, enteric methane (CH4) is also produced during the final stage of anaerobic digestion. Growing public concern for global climate change has driven the agriculture sector to enhance its investigation into CH4 mitigation. Many CH4 mitigation methods have been explored, with varying outcomes. With the advent of new sequencing technologies, the host–microbe interactions that mediate fermentation processes have been examined to enhance ruminant enteric CH4 mitigation strategies. In this review, we describe current knowledge of the factors driving ruminant microbial assembly, how this relates to functionality, and how CH4 mitigation approaches influence ecological and evolutionary gradients. Through the current literature, we elucidated that many ecological and evolutionary properties are working in tandem in the assembly of ruminant microbes and in the functionality of these microbes in methanogenesis. Additionally, we provide a conceptual framework for future research wherein ecological and evolutionary dynamics account for CH4 mitigation in ruminant microbial composition. Thus, preparation of future research should incorporate this framework to address the roles ecology and evolution have in anthropogenic climate change.