Interest in the bacteria responsible for the breakdown of lignocellulosic feedstuffs within the rumen has increased due to their potential utility in industrial applications. To date, most studies have focused on bacteria from domesticated ruminants. We have expanded the knowledge of the microbial ecology of ruminants by examining the bacterial populations found in the rumen of non-domesticated...

Holmes, W. & Jones, J. G. W. (1964). Proc. Nutr. SOL. 23, 88. Kielanowski, J. (1967). PYOC. int. Congr. Anim. Prod. IX. Edinburgh, 1966 p. 212. Leitch, I. & Godden, W. (19j3). Tech. Commun. Commonw. Bur. Anim. Nutr. no. 14. Lucas, J. W. (1968). PI. Fds hum. Nutr. I , 13. Middleton, 'r. H. (1923). Food Production in Wur. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1967)...

Ruminants, cloven-hoofed mammals of the order Artiodactyla, obtain their food by browsing or grazing, subsisting on plant material (Hungate, 1966). Today, 193 species of living ruminants exist in 6 families: Antilocapridae, Bovidae, Cervidae, Giraffidae, Moschidae and Tragulidae (Nowak, 1999). The number of wild ruminants is about 75 million and of domesticated about 3.6 billion (Hackmann and S...

A PCR-based assay (Mrnif) targeting the nifH gene of Methanobrevibacter ruminantium was developed to detect fecal pollution from domesticated ruminants in environmental water samples. The assay produced the expected amplification product only when the reaction mixture contained DNA extracted from M. ruminantium culture, bovine (80%), sheep (100%), and goat (75%) feces, and water samples from a ...

Peste des petits ruminants virus (PPRV) is causing infectious disease with high morbidity and mortality rate in domestic and wild small ruminants of Pakistan with valuable economical losses. The present study was carried out to investigate risk factors of PPRV in domestic small ruminants which were present in the vicinity of wildlife parks. A total of 265 sera samples (27 wild ruminants and 238...

Linguatula serrata Frohlich, 1789 is an aberrant endoparasite of occasional zoonotic importance in humans. We report the prevalence of encapsulated nymphal stages of L. serrata in domestic ruminants surveyed in Wayanad, located in Kerala State, South India. Large and small intestine mesentery were examined from 100 goats, cattle and buffaloes each revealing an infection prevalence of 21, 19, an...