The Horse Gut Microbiome Responds in a Highly Individualized Manner to Forage Lignification.
Authors: Gomez Andres, Sharma Ashok Kumar, Grev Amanda, Sheaffer Craig, Martinson Krishona
Journal: Journal of equine veterinary science
Summary
# Editorial Summary: Individualised Microbiome Responses to Forage Lignification When horses consume alfalfa hay with varying lignin content, their gut microbiomes do not all respond in the same way—a finding with important implications for nutritionists and veterinarians advising on forage selection. Researchers fed six adult horses both reduced-lignin and conventional alfalfa in a crossover design, collecting and sequencing faecal samples over a 5-day period to track microbial community shifts at the molecular level. Whilst reduced-lignin alfalfa produced consistent changes in certain bacterial taxa (notably *Akkermansia*, *Fibrobacter succinogenes*, *Treponema*, and *Paludibacter*), the magnitude and direction of these shifts varied substantially between individual horses, particularly in terms of overall microbial community structure. Horse-specific associations also emerged between particular microbiome characteristics and digestive outcomes, including dry matter digestibility and faecal particle size, suggesting that one horse's optimal forage may not suit another's microbial ecology equally well. These findings underscore the reality that equine nutrition is not one-size-fits-all; future work must clarify whether tailoring hay lignin content to individual microbiome profiles could enhance digestive efficiency, metabolic health, or performance in different horses.
Read the full abstract on PubMed
Practical Takeaways
- •Horses show individualized microbiome responses to changes in hay lignin content, suggesting that switching to reduced lignin forages may produce variable effects on digestion and nutrient utilization between individuals
- •Monitoring individual horses' digestive responses (fecal consistency, dry matter digestibility) rather than assuming uniform benefits across a group may be important when introducing reduced lignin forage varieties
- •Microbiome-level changes do occur with lignification differences, but practical impacts on metabolic health and performance require further investigation before making blanket feeding recommendations
Key Findings
- •Reduced lignin alfalfa did not produce uniform microbiome shifts across all horses, with each individual responding in a unique manner primarily affecting beta diversity
- •Akkermansia, Fibrobacter succinogenes, Treponema, and Paludibacter abundances fluctuated significantly when fed reduced lignin alfalfa with horse-specific patterns
- •Individual associations between gut microbiome traits and digestion characteristics (dry matter digestibility and fecal particle size) varied by horse when comparing conventional versus reduced lignin alfalfa