ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Genet.
Sec. Livestock Genomics
This article is part of the Research TopicNutrigenetics and Nutrigenomics in LivestockView all 3 articles
The Influence of Prenatal Nutrition on Ruminal Microbiome of Beef Cattle
Provisionally accepted
Édison Furlan*
Guilherme Henrique Gebim Polizel
Arícia Christofaro FernandesBárbara Carolina Teixeira PratiGabriela do Vale Pombo
Germán Darío Ramírez Zamudio
Heidge Fukumasu
Miguel HA Santana*- Universidade de Sao Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
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Maternal nutrition is recognized for inducing long-lasting effects on offspring performance during postnatal life. However, little is known about its potential role in modulat-ing the ruminal microbiota during fetal development, as rumen colonization has traditionally been assumed to occur only at birth. This study aimed to evaluate the long-term effects of maternal nutrition during gestation on the offspring's ruminal microbiota in postnatal life. The experimental design comprised 28 Nellore bulls, offspring of a single sire and born to primiparous heifers. Dams were assigned to two groups and received either mineral supplementation (Control; n = 14; 0.3 g/kg BW) or protein–energy supplementation (Supplemented; n = 14; 5 g/kg BW) throughout gestation, from conception to calving. Calves from both groups were managed identically from birth to slaughter. At the finishing phase, ruminal fluid samples were collected from 10 bulls per treatment. The V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene was sequenced, and amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) were identified using DADA2 and phyloseq for microbial diversity and taxonomic analysis. Pathway over-representation analysis was also conducted using MicrobiomeProfiler. Maternal nutrition resulted in modest yet significant alterations in the ruminal microbial communities of the offspring. The Supplemented group exhibited higher relative abundance of Fibrobacter and Prevotellaceae UCG-003, with reduced abundance of Xylanibacter. Pathway analysis revealed enrichment of starch and sucrose metabolism, along with modulation of amino acid biosynthesis and nitrogen metabolism, suggesting potential im-provements in microbial protein synthesis and nitrogen utilization. In conclusion, maternal nutrition during gestation has long-term effects on the offspring's ruminal microbiota, influencing specific bacterial taxa and metabolic pathways linked to carbohydrate metabolism and nutrient utilization.
Keywords: 16S rRNA metabarcoding, fetal programming, maternal nutrition, Nellore cattle, Rumen
Received: 18 Sep 2025; Accepted: 10 Dec 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Furlan, Henrique Gebim Polizel, Fernandes, Prati, Pombo, Ramírez Zamudio, Fukumasu and Santana. 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:
Édison Furlan
Miguel HA Santana
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