New microbiological instruments in the meat and dairy industry

Gleb Kolesnikov, a journalist for the Altaiskaya Niva publication, tells about this.

... Professor Georgy Laptev from St. Petersburg visited the Altai Territory. The Russian microbiologist, DOCTOR of Agricultural Sciences, became a participant in the conference "Agricultural Science for Agriculture" and shared his experience in molecular genetic studies of the rumen of ruminants with his Altai colleagues.

In his report “Microbiome, HEALTH and productivity of farm animals”, the professor outlined the results of research that has been carried out since 2007 at the Department of Feed Biotechnology headed by him at St. Petersburg State Agrarian University, as well as on the basis of the Biotroph scientific enterprise, founded by Laptev. 

Before the speech, Georgy Yuryevich answered the questions of the Altaiskaya Niva correspondent, including those on applied genetics in animal husbandry, namely, what tasks and problems new microbiological tools help to solve.

it would be something to measure

- Georgy Yuryevich, on the eve of your visit, the first PCR laboratory was launched in the Altai Territory. Is genetics in the MEAT and dairy industry today an integral element? 

- You know, you can work without it. The question is - will it be good, will it be effective? Remember how the novel "12 chairs" begins. Ostap Bender enters Stargorod from the village of Chmarovka and starts selling an astrolabe on the market and says: “The astrolabe is a very good instrument. They can measure everything. It would be something to measure ”... So the PCR analyzer is approximately such a device.

If we have good primers (a primer is a short sequence of nucleotides that is the starting point for DNA synthesis), we can track the presence of a particular gene, understand whether this gene works or not. Or, let's say, this gene is silent. Then the question is raised: why is it silent and how can we activate it. Let's say that one or another stimulating drug was added to the diet of animals, and so the PCR analyzer will be able to reliably show whether there is an effect from the drug, whether it activated this or that gene.

That is, with the help of this device, you can learn the very mechanism of the body, in this case, farm animals. In addition, it is quite easy to identify bacterial species in a PCR laboratory. With other laboratory methods, this is quite long and laborious.

- What other problems (tasks) does the PCR method help to solve?

- In my practice there was a case: we were approached by a manufacturer of bioproducts. The bulls have stopped "milking" ... You can't go to the veterinary service, it will raise many questions, and in general they can close it. And so we quietly, anonymously, as in a skin care clinic, found a pathogen using PCR studies. And in the end, the bulls were cured. In general, PCR studies allow solving many issues in a simplified manner. In addition, PCR diagnostics can be widely used in crop production, for example, to identify phytopathogens in seeds or feed. 

- And in terms of MILK production?

- PCR analysis allows you to study the productivity of a bull by daughters (or vice versa). If before it was necessary to raise animals, inseminate, get cows, now we can determine the indicator by the presence of a gene - how it was transmitted. This speeds up the work for years.

- Do I understand correctly that microbiological instruments quickly find the causes of problems, but do not solve them themselves. 

- Of course. If the analysis indicates which animals, for example, have a mastitis predisposition gene ... and what mastitis is, it is an inflammatory process. Which genes predominate in this case - interleukins, interferons. And so we found them, but knowing about this does not mean that now we will immediately correct the situation, replace the herd and get rich.

On the other hand, my graduate student recently won a grant from the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation for young scientists on this topic to study the process of how somatic cells get into milk . Now she is studying the genes responsible for inflammatory processes. And PCR analysis is indispensable here, and in the end it can have an impact on the economy. This directly affects the cost of milk.

However, there are a lot of factors that affect the economy of animal husbandry, except for genetics and even feed. I have a farmer friend who knows everything about his cows: when they inseminated, which calving, which is not, knows approximately when to reap calving. And at the same time, he knows practically nothing about his milkmaids: when she goes on maternity leave or when she skips work, and so on.     

Cow is not a pig

- You have been dealing with the problem of productive longevity of cows for many years...

- This issue is directly related to feeding and changes in the microflora of the rumen. In my opinion, a big mistake is that many livestock breeders “make a pig out of a cow”, abusing compound feed, and do not work on the quality of the main feed ...

Why has a person always had a special relationship with a cow-mother? Man domesticated a cow not only because it gives milk, but also because it is not a competitor to man in terms of nutrition. She eats what the person himself does not consume.

The growth of milk yields has led to the fact that the negative phase of the so-called energy minimum begins in the life of a cow. When she gives birth to a calf, at high milk yields, a huge amount of nutrients is taken out of the body, it is during this period that the risk of death of the animal increases. In the Leningrad region, for about 15 years, the average number of lactations has been only 2.7. I am sure that in the leading farms of the Altai Territory the figure is similar. And no one can do anything about it. As a result, there is a general reduction in the herd. This is a worldwide trend.

It is clear that high milk yields are an anti-physiological thing. Where it is thin, it breaks there, but the causes of these problems often lie in the pathologies of the rumen of ruminants. For the digestion of fiber from herbs, it is the microorganisms, the bacteria in the rumen, that are responsible.

- Georgy Yurievich, what conclusions did you come to?

- We are studying this issue from different angles, including using different methods of DNA analysis. And we found that in cows diagnosed with ketosis, the composition of the microbiota in the rumen changes: at the same time, the proportion of bacteria responsible for the formation of fatty acids, including propionate, decreases, and, on the contrary, the proportion of bacteria of pathogenesis increases (pathogenic - ed.) .

In addition, we have found which microorganisms dominate in the rumen at certain milk yields and at higher concentrations in the diet. One of the most common causes of serious violations and subsequent culling is the development of lactic acidosis. When, due to the abundance of concentrates in the diet, there is a rapid fermentation of sugars to lactic acid, the result is acidification and displacement of others by these bacteria. That is, some bacteria are replaced by others. Moreover, the microbiome changes not only in the intestines - these are liver pathologies, lameness, ulcers. Violations appear everywhere, including on the hooves.       

Based on the study of more than five thousand samples of cicatricial contents using molecular methods, we proved that the causes of lactic acidosis are exclusively microbiological.

In terms of genetics, based on the results of our research, as well as from communication with colleagues around the world, we came to one conclusion - due to the abundance of concentrates in the diet, the genes responsible for the transport of sugars do not work properly in cattle - these are the cycle genes Krebs. The production of enzymes in the body of animals is turned off.

- You are also developing starter cultures and feed additives that increase the digestion of fiber in the feed, and so on. In 2017, you received an award from the Government of the Russian Federation for one of the drugs. 

- We are developing. This is a rather science-intensive and very promising niche that does not require huge investments.

- The necessary strains after all can be propagated?

- Exactly. In this sense, a large backlog of work opens up before Russian scientists. I know that there are good specialists, including in the Altai Territory. As far as import substitution is concerned, today not only animal husbandry needs it, but also the dairy industry. Producers are looking for a good alternative to imported starters.