Enumeration and Recovery of Bacterial Isolates from Ruminants Fed with Different Dietary Regimes and Their Antibacterial Activity

The study evaluated different synthetic and semisynthetic media for maximal recovery of rumen bacteria and expression of their antibacterial activity. Rumen Glucose Cellobiose Agar (RGCA) medium was found to be the best for recovery of rumen bacteria. However, L-10 medium was the best for expression of antibacterial activity of ruminal isolates followed by Easy, M-10, RGCA and M-98-5 medium. The present study recommends the use of L-10 medium as the medium of choice for screening of antibacterial activity of ruminal isolates. Comparative evaluation of bacterial counts on different dietary regimes indicated significant difference between different growth media on a specific diet and between diets on specific growth media within a species. However, there is no overall significant difference between total bacterial counts obtained from rumen liquor of cattle and buffalo with respect to either the feeding regime or growth media. Feeding straw based diet to the animal is the best for high recovery of rumen bacteria.