ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Anim. Sci.
Sec. Animal Nutrition
Effects of Diverse Forage Mixtures on Rumen Fermentation, Nitrogen Metabolism, and Prokaryote Microbial Community Structure in Continuous Culture Fermenters
Provisionally accepted
Taylor Jackson1Jennifer MacAdam2Juan Villalba2Surbhi Verma1Bugil Choi1
Yuting Zhai1KC Jeong1
Fernanda Batistel1*- 1University of Florida, Gainesville, United States
- 2Utah State University College of Agriculture and Applied Sciences, Logan, United States
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Seasonal declines in forage quality in crested wheatgrass-dominated rangelands of the Intermountain West reduce beef cattle performance and increase supplementation costs. Integrating legumes and forbs rich in bioactive plant secondary metabolites into pasture systems may enhance rumen fermentation and improve nutrient use efficiency. This study investigated the impact of forage mixtures on rumen fermentation, nitrogen metabolism, and the structure of prokaryotic microbial communities using a dual-flow continuous culture system. Treatments were arranged in a 5 × 5 Latin square and consisted of 1) 75% crested wheatgrass and 25% alfalfa (CW-AL), 2) 75% crested wheatgrass and 25% sainfoin (CW-SA), 3) 75% crested wheatgrass and 25% small burnet (CW-SB), 4) 75% crested wheatgrass, 12.5% sainfoin, and 12.5% small burnet, (CW-SA-SB), and 5) 75% crested wheatgrass, 8.3% sainfoin, 8.3% small burnet, and 8.3% birdsfoot trefoil (CW-SA-SB-BT). CW-AL yielded the greatest neutral detergent fiber digestibility and acetate production, significantly outperforming more diverse mixtures containing small burnet. Ammonia-N concentrations were highest in CW-AL and CW-SA and lowest in CW-SB. No treatment effects were observed on microbial nitrogen flow. Whereas alpha diversity was unaffected by diet, beta diversity analysis revealed differences in prokaryotic microbial community composition across treatments. Notably, the abundance of Prevotella, Succiniclasticum, and Prevotellaceae_UCG-001 was highest in CW-AL and lowest in CW-SB, whereas NK4A214_group was most abundant in CW-SB. These findings highlight the influence of forage diversity on rumen microbial dynamics and nutrient utilization.
Keywords: Fiber digestibility, Forage mixtures, microbiome, plant secondary metabolites, Ruminants
Received: 11 Jun 2025; Accepted: 28 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Jackson, MacAdam, Villalba, Verma, Choi, Zhai, Jeong and Batistel. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Fernanda Batistel
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