Figure 5.

Alpha diversity boxplot of vaginal bacterial microbiota in Brangus heifers measured by the Shannon diversity index (panel A). The green box represents heifers with low estrogen concentration (1.1 to 2.5 pg/mL), the purple box represents heifers with medium estrogen concentration (2.6 to 6.7 pg/mL), and the brown represents heifers with high estrogen concentration (7.2 to 17.6 pg/mL). Black dots represent values for individual samples. Alpha diversity did not differ across groups (P = 0.51). PCoA depicting Bray–Curtis dissimilarities across samples (panel B). Heifers with high (maroon diamond; 7.2 to 17.6 pg/mL), medium (purple star; 2.6 to 6.7 pg/mL), and low (green circle; 1.1 to 2.5 pg/mL) estradiol concentrations are represented. There were no differences in beta diversity between estradiol groups (P = 0.48). PC, principal coordinate.