Fermentation Microbiology and Ecology
Fermentation is supported by a rich and dense collection of microbes. Each milliliter of rumen content contains roughly 10 to 50 billion bacteria, 1 million protozoa and variable numbers of yeasts and fungi. The micrograph below, of sheep rumenal fluid, shows a Gulliver-like ciliated protozoon in the midst of thousands of bacteria (the small specks).
The environment of the rumen and large intestine is anaerobic and, as expected, almost all these microbes are anaerobes or facultative anaerobes. Fermentative microbes interact and support one another in a complex food web, with the waste products of some species serving as nutrients for other species.
Fermentative bacteria representing many genera provide a comprehensive battery of digestive capabilities. These organisms are often classified by their substrate preferences or the end products they produce. Although there is some specialization, many bacteria utilize multiple substrates. Some of the major groups, each of which contain multiple genera and species, are:
Protozoa, predominantly ciliates, appear to contribute substantially to the fermentation process. Several experiments have demonstrated that lambs and calves deprived of their ruminal protozoa show depressed growth rates and are relative "poor-doers" compared to controls with both bacteria and protozoa. In general, protozoa utilize the same set of substrates as bacteria and, as with bacteria, different populations of protozoa show distinctive substrate preferences. Many utilize simple sugars and some store ingested carbohydrate as glycogen.
An interesting feature of some protozoa is their inability to regulate glycogen synthesis: when soluble carbohydrates are in abundance, they continue to store glycogen until they burst. An additional feature of protozoa is that many species consume bacteria, which is thought to perhaps play a role in limiting bacterial overgrowth.
The distribution of microbial species varies with diet. Some of this appears to reflect substrate availability; for example, populations of cellulolytic bugs are depressed in animals fed diets rich in grain.
Environmental conditions in the fermentation vat also can have profound effects on the microbial flora. Rumen fluid normally has a pH between 6 and 7, but may fall if large amounts of soluble carbohydrate are consumed. If pH drops to about 5.5, protozoal populations become markedly depressed due to acid intolerance. More drastic lowering of rumen pH, as can occur with grain engorgement, can destroy many species and have serious consequences to the animal.
|Index of: Digestive Physiology of Herbivores|
|Herbivorous Strategies||Basic Fermentation Chemistry|
Last updated on November 3, 1998
|Author: R. Bowen|
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