Quantification and Microbial Diversity Analysis of Ruminal Methanogenic Populations in Indian Gir Native Cattle

Methane emission from the ruminants is receiving global attention due to its global warming potential. It imposes the development of cost-effective and easily adoptable energy to reduce methane emissions from ruminants. Apart from this, the information available on the methanogenic microflora and their populations in the Indian native cattle is also very limited. In this study, the normal methanogenic microflora of Indian native Gir cattle was studied using molecular methods and compared with cross breed cattles.

The rumen fluid was collected and DNA isolation was carried out from Gir, Gir cross and Kangayam crossbred cattle. The partial 16S rRNA and mcrA gene amplification were carried out by PCR and further subjected to sequence analysis. Further, Methanogenic population in the ruminal fluid were analyzed by SYBR Green-based real-time PCR.

This study provides a basic understanding of the normal methanogenic microfloral diversity and their population in the Gir native cattle of Indian origin compared with cross breed cattle.