CHARACTERISTICS OF ORGANISMS ISOLATED FROM THE RUMEN OF COWS FED HIGH AND LOW ROUGHAGE RATIONS

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Abstract
Gram positive, pleomorphic rod-shaped bacteria were found in numbers approximating 10 billion per gram of rumen contents of cows fed mostly alfalfa hay. These organisms resembled Lactobacillus bifidus in their morphology. They fermented a variety of sugars and starch but not cellulose. From glucose they produced acetic and lactic acids in a molar ratio of 21, with only traces of other products. In the rumen contents of cows fed grain concentrate with little or no roughage were found large numbers of Gram positive cocci which resembled pediococci. They were essentially homofermentative, converting glucose to acetic and lactic acids in a molar ratio of 1:10.