Slime from the Rumen of Cattle

Previous work has shown the percentage of encapsulated bacteria increased when cattle were placed on a feed-lot bloat type diet (Jacobson et al., 1957) and a recent investigation has shown Streptococcus bovis and Peptostreptococcus elsdenii increases in numbers as the onset of bloat symptoms occurred in cases of feed-lot bloat (Gutierrez et al., 1959). Slime produced by ruminal microorganisms in grain bloat may increase the viscosity of the rumen fluid and thereby contribute to the entrapment of the fermentation gases in a stable foam. The froth interferes with the animal's normal belching mechanism (Dougherty, Habel, and Bond, 1958). Although bacterial polysaccharides have been suggested as possible sources of ruminal slime, quantitative data along these lines are not available. The work reported here concerns an attempt to isolate slime fractions from grain bloaters, and to give some of the main chemical and biological characteristics of the residues found.