The Effect of Rumen and Post‐Rumen Feeding of Carbohydrates on the Caecal Microflora of Sheep

摘要

Summary.When sheep were bottle‐fed with solutions of glucose, sucrose or maltose, so avoiding fermentation in the rumen, there was a marked increase in the number of caecal bacteria, with a higher percentage of viable bacteria, compared with caecal counts from sheep fed conventionally on carbohydrates. Bottle‐feeding also resulted in a redistribution of bacterial types, 40–46 of the flora comprising Gram positive rods and a significant increase in butyric acid and decrease in propionic acid in the caecal contents. Feeding cellulose suspensions by bottle or conventionally failed to produce significant differences in counts of cellulolytic caecal bacteria. When sucrose was infused in increasing amounts into the abomasum,Streptococcus boviswas the principal organism, isolated from f