Stability of gastric fluid and fecal microbial populations in healthy horses under pasture and stable conditions

Healthy mares were kept at pasture for 3 weeks, stabled for 5 weeks, returned to pasture and an final sample collected 6 weeks later. Samples were collected weekly: gastric fluid by double-tube nasogastric intubation and aspiration, feces by rectal palpation. Microbial DNA was isolated using the QIAamp PowerFecal Pro DNA kit. Full length 16S, ITS and partial 23S rRNA gene libraries were created using the Shoreline Complete ID kit.