ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Anim. Sci.
Sec. Animal Nutrition
This article is part of the Research TopicNew Horizons in Gut Microbiome Research for Enhancing Livestock ProductivityView all 31 articles
Fecal Microbiota Transplantation Modulates Gut Microbiota and Lipid 1 Metabolism to Reduce Diarrhea in Low-Birth-Weight Neonatal Calves 2 3
Provisionally accepted
- 1Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot, China
- 2University of Kentucky, Lexington, United States
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Abstract 13 This study aimed to elucidate the mechanism by which colonic fecal microbiota 14 transplantation (FMT) improves lipid metabolism in low-birth-weight neonatal calves 15 via modulation of the gut microbial ecosystem. In a completely randomized design, 16 seventy newborn Holstein calves (1 day old, 32.63 ± 3.13 kg BW) were assigned to 17 two groups (35 calves/treatment; 30 females and 5 males per group). A healthy calf 18 was used as a fecal donor. A 10% fecal bacterial suspension was prepared and 19 administered colonically (50 mL, twice daily for 5 days). All calves were fed the same 20 milk replacer and weaned using a step-down protocol at 60 days of age. Blood 21 samples were collected from the jugular vein on days 1, 7, and 14. Six calves near the 22 group average body weight were selected from each treatment group for serum, fecal 23 microbial, and serum metabolomic analyses. Fecal samples collected on day 7 were 24 subjected to 16S rRNA sequencing (V3–V4 regions) for microbiota profiling. Serum 25 metabolites were analyzed using LC–MS/MS with Progenesis QI 2.3. The results 26 showed that FMT improved growth performance, reduced the incidence and duration 27 of diarrhea, and significantly decreased serum total cholesterol. These changes were 28 associated with a reduction in the abundance of Ruminococcus_gnavus_group, a 29 genus positively correlated with serum total cholesterol. Metabolic pathway analysis 30 revealed that two lipid-related pathways—glycerophospholipid metabolism and ether 31 lipid metabolism—were altered in the FMT group compared to the control. In 32 conclusion, FMT reduces diarrhea and enhances host health by modulating the gut 33 microbial ecosystem to improve lipid metabolism in neonatal calves.
Keywords: fecal microbiota transplantation, Gutmicrobiota, Lipid Metabolism, low birth weight, Neonatal calves
Received: 08 Nov 2025; Accepted: 11 Dec 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhang, You, Wu, Li, Jia, Harmon and Xu. 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: Ming Xu
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