Capacity of Polysaccharide Accumulation by Whole Rumen Bacteria

An optical density of a whole bacterial suspension, prepared from sheep rumen contents, increased very rapidly when the cells were incubated in a glucose-containing medium. This is largely due to the accumulation of intracellular polysaccharide(s) and appears to proceed without cell multiplication. The increase has an apparent relationship with feeding conditions of animals and reflects the availability of easily fermentable sugars for bacteria in the rumen. The data suggest that the ruminal fermentation proceeds under extremely low level of easily fermentable sugars.