Differences in Milk Fatty Acids Profile of Two Breeds of Water Buffaloes Explained by Their Gastrointestinal Microbiota.

Simple Summary: Buffalo milk has a significantly greater fatty acid content, up to 11%, than cow's milk, making buffalo milk more suitable for dairy products such as cheese. Several factors affect the quantity and proportion of milk fatty acids, and among the intrinsic factors, breed is important. However, the role of breed is still not fully understood. It is known that gastrointestinal microbiota serve as a key factor in modulating the content of milk fatty acids, since breed affects the type of gastrointestinal microbiota and consequently the milk fatty acids (FA). Therefore, we used 16S rDNA sequencing to analyze the microbial causes of different milk fatty acids in two breeds of dairy buffaloes. The results showed that the abundance of fatty acids such as C18:3 and C18:2c9t11 in Murrah buffalo milk was associated with the abundance of bacteria such as Acetobacter and Ruminalococcus in the rumen, as well as bacteria such as UCG-005 in the feces. This experiment investigated gastrointestinal microbes' role in milk fatty acid differences between Murrah and Nili-Ravi buffaloes. After 30 days of a basal diet, rumen microbial diversity was similar, but Murrah buffaloes had greater partially unsaturated fatty acids like C18:2c9t11. Rumen bacteria like Acetobacter, Ruminococcus, and Prevotellaceae_YAB2003_group correlated positively with milk fatty acids C22:5n-6 and C18:3 in Murrah. Fecal microbial beta diversity differed, with UCG-005 and Prevolla positively correlated with C18:2c9t11 and C22:5n-6. The greater quantity of milk fatty acids C18:3, C18:2c9t11, and C22:5n-6 in Murrah milk was linked to rumen and fecal microbes. This suggests that gastrointestinal microbes like Acetobacter, Ruminococcus, and UCG_005 regulate milk fatty acid concentrations in buffaloes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]