Cultural Methods and Some Characteristics of Some of the More Numerous Groups of Bacteria in the Bovine Rumen

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Abstract
Samples of rumen contents were diluted in an anaerobic mineral dilution soln., mixed in a Waring blendor to disperse the bacteria, and cultured in an anaerobic agar culture medium containing minerals, rumen fluid, glucose, cellobiose, cysteine, and H2CO3-NaHCO3 buffer system. The morph., Gram reaction, motility, relations to O2, and ability to produce H2S, liquefy gelatin, hydrolyze starch and cellulose and to produce acid from glucose, xylose, and cellobiose were determined for each of 896 strains of bacteria isolated. Colony counts from animals on normal rations avg. 1.7 billion bacteria per ml., or 8.4% of the total bacteria as detd. by direct counts. All bacteria cultured were anaerobes except for a few strains of facultative anaerobic Streptococci. Many of the groups of bacteria isolated required bicarbonate for growth and several did not grow well unless rumen fluid was included in the medium.