Influence of bacteria and protozoa from the rumen of buffalo on in-vitro activities of anaerobic fungus Caecomyces sp. isolated from the feces of elephant

sp. was grown in co-culture with bacteria and protozoa separately as well as together, indicating that it is possibly the inhibitory action of bacteria and protozoa, and not inter-species competition, that affects the growth of fungi preventing them from attaining their full fibre-degrading potential. Conversely, although fungal counts were lowered during their co-culturing with bacterial and protozoal fractions, their co-culturing increased the FPase activity of the co-cultured fraction which could be the apparent reason for enhanced fibre degradation. Key words: