Insoluble Xylan Research Articles

Growth of Rumen Bacteria on Plant Cell Wall Polysaccharides

SUMMARY: Three strains of Butyrivibrio fibrisolvens were isolated from the rumen contents of cattle feeding on red (Trifolium pratense L.) or white (T. repens L.) clover. The substrates used in these isolations were plant hemicellulose fractions other than simple insoluble xylan. The strains showed some differences in their ability to grow on various plant polysaccharides and to secrete polysaccharases specific to these polymers. The same type of rumen contents yielded, on polygalacturonic acid media, a strain of Lachnospira multiparus which grew only on pectin and secreted as sole polysaccharase a polygalacturonase. Only one of the three B. fibrisolvens strains grew vigorously on polygalacturonic acid and its polygalacturonase appeared to be different to that of the L. multiparus.