RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BACTERIAL CONCENTRATION,

PAEZ LAMA, S.; GRILLI, D.; EGEA, A. V.; FUCILI, M.; ALLEGRETTI, L.

Mendoza

Jornada; XXVIII Anual Cientific Meeting of Cuyo Biology Society; 2010

Sociedad de Biología de Cuyo

In adult ruminants, most studies use rumen bacteria concentration to assess rumen microbiology. The total number of bacteria into the rumen is more related to bacterial concentration (bacteria per gram) than rumen content (gram) because the rumen size is little variable. This could be different in kid goats because the rumen size varies according to rumen development. This study was aimed to determine which factor, rumen content (RC) or bacterial concentration (BC) has the best correlation with total bacteria (bacterial concentration multiplied by rumen content) (TB). Eighteen kid goats were fed ad libitum with goat milk and starter ration from birth to slaughter. Kids were slaughtered between 3 to 6 weeks of age, and rumen content were weighed and sampled for bacterial enumeration. Aerobic and anaerobic bacteria concentrations were quantified by most probable number method. Pearson?s correlation coefficients between BC, RC and TB were calculated. The correlation between the RC and TB was r=0.89 (p<0.001) for aerobic bacteria, and r=0.86 (p<0.001) for anaerobic bacteria. Whereas, correlation between BC and TB was r=0.53 (p<0.05) and r=0.81 (p<0.001) for aerobic and anaerobic bacteria, respectively. These results indicate that total bacteria are more related to RC than BC. Therefore, in kid goats with developing rumen, bacterial concentration and rumen content should be determined for a better study of rumen microbial development.