PSII-29 Maternal zinc oxide nanoparticle supplementation during pregnancy and lactation shapes lamb ruminal microbiota.

Abstract Patricia Louvandini1,2*, Brenda L. A. Silva.1, João P. Duarte, Livia M. Presuto1, Henrique Guedes1, Adibe L. Abdalla 1,2, Helder Louvandini1,2 1 University of São Paulo, Center for Nuclear Energy in Agriculture, Laboratory of Animal Nutrition, Piracicaba, SP, Brazil.2 University of São Paulo, Piracicaba, São Paulo, Brazil - Center for Carbon Research in Tropical Agriculture (CCARBON) This study was conducted to evaluate the influence of Zinc Oxid Nanoparticle (Zn-NP) dietary supplementation during pregnancy and lactation on rumen microbiota of ewe’s offspring. The rumen microbiota plays an important role in host nutrition and enhancing it in the early stages of life can improve health and performance. Offspring’s microbiota is strongly shaped by the maternal microbiota. Zinc supplementation, as an essential mineral, has shown a positive effect on ruminal fermentation in ruminants. Nanoparticle (NP) minerals, due to the smaller size and easier transport through the gastrointestinal tract, provide a more efficient residence time, ensuring a greater uniformity of distribution and improving absorption in mucosal tissues and cells. Here, during the gestation and lactation, thirty primiparous ewes were randomly divided into three groups: Placebo (no supplementation), micro (zinc oxid microparticle) and nano (zinc oxid nanoparticle). After sixty days of delivery (weaning period), rumen fluid samples were taken by esophageal tube from ewes and their offspring lambs and immediately frozen for DNA extraction. Copy number of total Bacteria, Archaea, Fungi, Protozoa, Fibrobacter succinogenes, Ruminococcus flavefaciens, Ruminoccocus albus, Clostridium sp, Prevotella ruminicola, Ruminobacter amilophylum, Selenomonas ruminantium and mcrA (methyl-coenzyme M reductase) were quantified by real-time quantitative PCR analysis (qPCR) (QuantStudio5, Applied Biosystems, USA) and Pearson’s analysis was performed to calculate the correlation between qPCR data from maternal microbiota and their offspring lambs. The results showed no significant difference for the abundance of microbial taxa and functional mcrA gene, however, we observed a strong correlation between the nano ewes’ group and their offspring lambs, for Archaea (Pearson Correlation coefficient of 0.616, p = 0.043), Protozoa (Correlation coefficient of 0.619, p = 0.041) and Prevotella ruminicolla (Correlation coefficient of 0.738, p = 0.009). Our study indicates that maternal Zn-NP supplementation may influence the early postnatal rumen microbiota in a positive way, which in turn may serve as a mechanism to intervene in the development of the offspring rumen microbiota.