Effects of partial silage replacement with corn stover pellets on the rumen microbiota and serum metabolome of breeding cows

Introduction: Straw pellet ration replacing part of silage is of great significance for farmers to save farming costs and solve the lack of feed resources. A comprehensive analysis of rumen microbial and serum metabolite compositions is conducted to promote the development of the modern breeding cows-feeding industry. Methods: In this study, 18 healthy 2-year-old Simmental breeding cows weighing 550 +/- 20 kg were selected and randomly divided into two groups. They were fed under the same feeding conditions for 70 days, of which 8 in the control (CON) group were fed 65% roughage (100% silage) + 35% concentrate, and 10 in the treatment (TRT) group were fed 65% roughage (50% corn stover pellets +50% silage) + 35% concentrate, and milk quality, serum immunity indexes, serum metabolomes, rumen fermentation parameters, rumen Microorganisms. Results: The results showed that there was no significant difference in production performance between the two groups of breeding cows fed hay and Corn stover pellet feed (p < 0.05); Immunoglobulin A (IgA) was significantly higher in TRT compared to CON (p < 0.05), and there was no significant difference in Immunoglobulin G (IgG) and Immunoglobulin M (IgM) between the two groups (p > 0.05); a total of 92 differential metabolites were screened out in the serum metabolomics analysis, among them, L-valine, L-leucine, L-arginine, L-cysteine, L-tyrosine, and L-tryptophan were up-regulated; In rumen fermentation parameters there was no significant difference between CON and TRT in rumen pH, rumen ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N) content, rumen Acetic/Propionic concentration (p > 0.05), and the concentration of Acetic, Propionic, butyric and Total volatile fatty acids (TVFA) in CON was significantly lower than that in TRT (p < 0.05). Among the rumen microorganisms, the dominant groups were Thick-walled Firmicutes, Bacteroidota, Prevotella and Ruminalococcus. In the correlation analysis between rumen fermentation parameters and rumen microorganisms, Propionic and TVFA showed a significant positive correlation with Prevotella (p < 0.05), butyric showed a highly significant positive correlation with Prevotella (p < 0.01), and propionic butyric, and TVFA showed a positive correlation with Bacteroides (p < 0.05); L-cysteine was significantly positively correlated with Prevotella and Anaeroplasma (p < 0.05) and Eubaterium in rumen microbial-serum metabolite correlation analysis (p < 0.01). Conclusion: The microbial and metabolomic analyses provide us with essential data support to further provide a scientific basis for breeding cows feeding through the feeding pattern of straw pellets instead of silage, which will help breeding cows farming in future research.