The gut microbiota is closely associated with a variety of gastrointestinal diseases. However, there is no clear relationship between gut microbiota and diarrhea in yaks. Here, we investigated the effect of diarrhea on the gut microbiota of yaks. Results showed that diarrhea greatly reduced the diversity of gut fungi but had no significant effect on gut bacteria. Additionally, the relative abundance of specific bacterial and fungal taxa differed significantly between healthy and diarrheal yaks. A total of 20 genera were significantly increased in the gut bacterial community of diarrheic yaks compared to the healthy yaks, while the relative abundance of 2 phyla and 10 genera has significantly decreased. Fungal taxonomic analysis showed that the relative abundance of 1 phylum and 62 genera has significantly increased in the diarrheic yaks compared to the healthy yaks, while the relative abundance of 7 phyla and 123 genera has significantly decreased. In summary, this study demonstrated the negative impact of diarrhea on the gut microbiota homeostasis of yaks. Furthermore, this research contributes to the understanding of the characteristics of gut microbiota in plateau yaks, thus laying the foundation for protection of yak health and relieving diarrhea from the microbial perspective.

To Cite This Article: Wang D, Zeng J, Ma H, Rasheed M, Su Z_, Mohamed RAE, Ibrahim EA, 2025. Microbiome analysis shows the adverse impacts of diarrhea on the intestinal homeostasis in yaks. Pak Vet J, 45(4): 1650-1661. http://dx.doi.org/10.29261/pakvetj/2025.331