Gas-liquid chromatography for evaluating polysaccharide degradation by Ruminococcus flavefaciens C94 and Bacteroides succinogenes S85

Abstract

Two predominant rumen cellulolytic bacteria, Ruminococcus flavefaciens C94 and Bacteroides succinogenes S85, were incubated with ground filter paper (Whatman no. 1), cattle manure fiber, wheat straw, Kentucky bluegrass, alfalfa, and corn silage as substrates. Analyses of the initial substrate and the recovered residue after 48 h of static incubation showed that R. flavefaciens C94 was quantitatively more effective than B. succinogenes S85 in degrading total dry matter (32.3% versus 16.1%). However, B. succinogenes S85 demonstrated a qualitative advantage in degrading the hemicellulose and hemicellulosic sugars of particular substrates. R. flavefaciens degraded a mean 29.7% of the cellulose and 35.6% of the hemicellulose in the various substrates, whereas B. succinogenes degraded a mean 17.9 and 31.6% of these fractions, respectively. Gas-liquid chromatography was an important aid in characterizing the polysaccharide-degrading capabilities of these rumen species.

The hydrolysis of lucerne cell‐wall monosaccharide components by monocultures or pair combinations of defined ruminal bacteria

“…This study has also demonstrated significant complementary interactions in xylan and hemicellulose hydrolysis that occur among the strains of the combinations FDl plus D1, FDI plus GA33, 7 plus D1 and 7 plus Ga33 (Tables 2 and 3), and these findings support the general view about the complementation occurring in the rumen between the cellulolytic Ruminococcus species and the saccharoclastic species (Dehority & Scott 1967;Collings & Yokoyama 1980;Russell 1984;Kopecny & Williams 1988).…”

“…In this study F. succinogenes S85 was the dominant bacterial strain determining the hydrolysis of lucerne CW in all pair combinations employing S85 (Table 1). The high ability of pure F. succinogenes to degrade plant CW was also demonstrated in previous studies (Dehority & Scott 1967;Collings & Yokoyama 1980;Osborne & Dehority 1989). This high hydrolytic ability of S85 can be explained by two characteristics of this species :…”

“…These strains have been characterized in previous publications (Dehority & Scott 1967;Russell 1984;Hespell et al 1987;Miron et al 1989). These strains were maintained on glucose-cellobiose-starchrumen fluid agar slants (Collings & Yokoyama 1980) prior to inoculation of the growth medium. The composition of the rumen fluid growth medium and preparation procedure were as described by Miron et al 1989Miron et al , 1990.…”

“…The cellulolytic and hemicellulolytic rumen bacterial species Fibrobacter succinogenes, Ruminococcus albus, Ruminococcus Javefaciens, Butyrivabrio jbrasolvens and Bacteroides ruminicola are recognized as the predominant species grown on and degrading leguminous hays (Dehority & Scott 1967;Collings & Yokoyama 1980;Cheng et al 1983;Russell 1984;Miron & Yokoyama 1990). Recently much progress has been achieved in the identification and characterization of the cellulases and hemicellulases complexes of these bacterial species (Hespell et al 1987;Howard & White 1988;Irvin & Teather 1988;Flint et al 1989;Gong et a/.…”

“…It is well accepted that the predominant rumen bacteria that degrade native CW are acting in consortia (Cheng et al 1983), but the mechanism of interaction between bacterial species is still fragmentary (Dehority & Scott 1967;Collings & Yokoyama 1980;Kopecny & Williams 1988;Osborne & Dehority 1989;Varel et al 1989).…”