The effects of essential oils isolated from Douglas fir needles on sheep and deer rumen microbial activity were tested by use of an anaerobic manometric technique. Rumen microorganisms were obtained from a sheep which had been fed mainly on alfalfa hay and dried range grass. One deer used in this study had access to Douglas fir trees the year around, whereas the other deer had no access to Doug...

Anaerobic rumen microorganisms mainly bacteria, protozoa and fungi degrade ligno-cellulosic feeds consumed by the ruminants. The ruminants in developing countries are predominantly maintained on low grade roughage and grazing on degraded range land resulting in their poor nutrient utilization and productivity. Hence, manipulation of rumen fermentation was tried during last two decades to optimi...

To maximize digestion by cattle, ruminal microbes require adequate nourishment. For cattle consuming poor-quality forages, nitrogen (N) is the nutrient that is typically most limiting for the microbes (Köster et al., 1996). The total amount of N required by the microbes would minimally be the amount of microbial N flowing from the rumen and to the small intestine, but an additional amount of N ...

The rumen microbiota is an essential part of ruminants shaping their nutrition and health. Despite its importance, it is not fully understood how various groups of rumen microbes affect host-microbe relationships and functions. The aim of the study was to simultaneously explore the rumen microbiota and the metabolic phenotype of lambs for identifying host-microbe associations and potential biom...

Developing production systems for ruminants using tropical feed resources requires an understanding of the relative roles and nutrient needs of the two-compartment system represented by the symbiotic relationship between rumen micro-organisms and the host animal. Fibre-rich, low-protein forages and crop residues are the most abundant and appropriate feeds for ruminants in the tropics. Strategie...

The inhabitants of the rumen microbial eco-system, a complex consortium of different microbial groups living in symbiotic relationship with the host, act synergistically for the bioconversion of lignocellulosic feeds into volatile fatty acids which serve as a source of energy for the animals. The constraints, imposed by the host and the feed consumed by the animal, under which these microbes ha...

Protein synthesis by rumen microbes plays an important role in ruminant nutrition. Microbial proteins that are not recycled flow out of the rumen and account for more than 50% of the total proteins entering the intestines. Determination of microbial nitrogen in digesta is based on the isolation of a representative sample of rumen microbes and on the use of specific markers (purine bases, RNA, 1...

Baluchi sheep is the dominant fat-tail breed in Iran. We studied the microbial communities in the rumen of four Baluchi lambs fed a high concentrate conventional diet. Using DNA extracted from the rumen samples, we found the partial ribosomal rRNA of bacterial and archaeal were amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The amplicons were sequenced using 454 Titanium pyrosequencing and the d...

Baluchi sheep is the dominant fat-tail breed in Iran. We studied the microbial communities in the rumen of four Baluchi lambs fed a high concentrate conventional diet. Using DNA extracted from the rumen samples, we found the partial ribosomal rRNA of bacterial and archaeal were amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The amplicons were sequenced using 454 Titanium pyrosequencing and the d...

Cattle manure is frequently used as an inoculum for the start-up of agricultural biogas plants or as a co-substrate in the anaerobic digestion of lignocellulosic feedstock. Ruminal microbiota are considered to be effective plant fiber degraders, but the microbes contained in manure do not necessarily reflect the rumen microbiome. The aim of this study was to compare the microbial community comp...