Phylogenetic diversity of methanogenic archae in diets with different hay proportions

Abstract

The objective of this research was to detect the presence of archaea in the bovine rumen using genetic sequences from the conserved region of the 16S rDNA. Samples were collected from bovines that were fed two different experimental dietetic ratios of roughage to concentrate. The 16S rDNA region was amplified using PCR and analyzed using the Phred/Phrap/Consed programs. For the treatment with 70% hay diet 96 sequences related to the Methanobacteriaceae family, 47 sequences from non-cultured archaea, and 60 sequences from unknown archaea were identified by the BLAST analysis. For the treatment with 30% hay diet the BLAST analysis identified 125 sequences belonging to the Methanobacteriaceae fa-mily 42 sequences from non-cultured archaea, and 32 sequences from unknown archaea. The analysis of the 16S rDNA sequences of archaea collected from the bovine rumen, allows more sequences matching the unknown archaea were identified in the treatment with 70% hay.