Effect ofMethanobrevibactersp MF1 Inoculation on Glycoside Hydrolase and Polysaccharide Depolymerase Activities, Wheat Straw Degradation and Volatile Fatty Acid Concentrations in the Rumen of Gnotobiotically-reared Lambs☆

Abstract Four naturally born lambs were placed in sterile isolators 24 h after birth before the natural establishment of cellulolytic microorganisms and archaea methanogens. At the age of 6 weeks they were inoculated with pure cultures of the strains FD1 and 007 of Ruminococcus flavefaciens and at the age of 4 months with a pure culture of Methanobrevibacter sp. MF1. Following the establishment of MF1, the population of R. flavefaciens slightly increased in the rumen of the four lambs, there was also an increase in straw degradation, in the activity of some glycoside and polysaccharide hydrolases of the adherent microbial populations and in the concentration of acetate in ruminal contents.