Effect of isolate of ruminal fibrolytic bacterial culture supplementation on fibrolytic bacterial population and survivability of inoculated bacterial strain in lactating Murrah buffaloes

Aim: The present study was conducted to evaluate the effect of bacterial culture supplementation on ruminal fibrolytic bacterial population as well as on survivability of inoculated bacterial strain in lactating Murrah buffaloes kept on high fibre diet. Materials and Methods: Fibrolytic bacterial strains were isolated from rumen liquor of fistulated Murrah buffaloes and live bacterial culture were supplemented orally in treatment group of lactating Murrah buffaloes fed on high fibre diet to see it's effect on ruminal fibrolytic bacterial population as well as to see the effect of survivability of the inoculated bacterial strain at three different time interval in comparison to control group. Results: It has been shown by real time quantification study that supplementation of bacterial culture orally increases the population of major fibre degrading bacteria i.e. Ruminococcus flavefaciens, Ruminococcus albus as well as Fibrobacter succinogenes whereas there was decrease in secondary fibre degrading bacterial population i.e. Butyrivibrio fibrisolvens over the different time periods. However, the inoculated strain of Ruminococcus flavefaciens survived significantly over the period of time, which was shown in stability of increased inoculated bacterial population. Conclusion: The isolates of fibrolytic bacterial strains are found to be useful in increasing the number of major ruminal fibre degrading bacteria in lactating buffaloes and may act as probiotic in large ruminants on fibre-based diets. Key words: fibrolytic bacterial isolates, real time PCR, Ruminococcus, Murrah buffaloes