• Animal Bioscience
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• 제37권2_spc호
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• pp.385-395
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• 2024

Ruminal ciliates are a fundamental constituent within the rumen microbiome of ruminant animals. The complex interactions between ruminal ciliates and other microbial guilds within the rumen ecosystems are of paramount importance for facilitating the digestion and fermentation processes of ingested feed components. This review underscores the significance of ruminal ciliates by exploring their impact on key factors, such as methane production, nitrogen utilization efficiency, feed efficiency, and other animal performance measurements. Various methods are employed in the study of ruminal ciliates including culture techniques and molecular approaches. This review highlights the pressing need for further investigations to discern the distinct roles of various ciliate species, particularly relating to methane mitigation and the enhancement of nitrogen utilization efficiency. The promotion of establishing robust reference databases tailored specifically to ruminal ciliates is encouraged, alongside the utilization of genomics and transcriptomics that can highlight their functional contributions to the rumen microbiome. Collectively, the progressive advancement in knowledge concerning ruminal ciliates and their inherent biological significance will be helpful in the pursuit of optimizing rumen functionality and refining animal production outcomes.

• 대한수의학회지
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• 제35권2호
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• pp.327-336
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• 1995

This study was carried out to develop the animal protein(feed for fry) that was isolated, purified and lyophilized the rumen ciliates from the healthy rumen contents which have $10^5-10^6/g$ ciliates and were discarded in abattoirs. The rumen ciliates are non-pathogenic, anaerobic and the weight of this protozoa is 2% of rumen content. The rumen protozoan and bacterial proteins both have a biological value for rats of 80-81, which is higher than the 72 of brewer's yeasts. Furthermore, the true digestibility and net protein utility of the protozoan protein are 91 and 73, much higher than those of bacterial(74 and 60) or yeast(84 and 60) proteins. The amino acids of rumen protozoa is nutritionally superior than the others. The size of rumen ciliates is $30-200{\times}20-110{\mu}m$ and so we had isolated and purified the rumen ciliates from the rumen contents by the physical methods. The purified rumen protozoa was lyophilized with freezing dryer. The results of this experiment were as follows : 1. Population dynamics of protozoan ciliates in slaughtered rumens; % of samples which small ciliates were predominated was 82.5%(52/63) and that of large ciliates was 17.5%(11/63). 1) predominant species of small ciliates were Entodinium ovinum and E nanellum. 2) predominant species of large ciliates were Epidinium ecaudatum and Diploplastron affine. 2. The lyophilized rumen ciliates which were isolated and purified from 1 kg of rumen content at the pH 6.2-6.8 was about 7.0 gram. 3. The nutrient analysis of lyophilized rqmen ciliates(LRC) was as follows: 1) Proximate analysis of the LRC and the composition of fry feed; moisture 8.05%(below 10.0), protein 35.37%(45), fat 5.39%(4.5), fiber 1.23%(below 2.5), ash 2.25%(below 15.0), Ca 0.26%(below 2.0), P 0.14%(below 1.1), energy 4,608.11(fish meal 5000 cal/g) 2) Amino acids (% in crude protein) of the LRC and the rotifer(Brachionus plicatilis); Arg 5.19%(4.50), His 2.50%(1.55), Ile 5.29%(3.45), Leu 8.11%(5.85), Lys 10.34%(6.15), Met 2.25% (0.85), Phe 5.66%(3.80), Thr 5.14% (3.45), Val 4.18%(3.90), Ala 4.13%(3.35), Asp 13.26%(8.25), Glu 16.62%(9.20), Gly 4.23%(3.10), Pro 3.25%(5.05), Ser 4.85%(3.85), Tyr 5.04%(3.05) 3) Fatty acids(% in fat) of the LRC and the rotifer(biological feed ; Brachionus plicatilis); myristic acid(C14:0) 3.27%(0.3), myristoleic acid(C14:1) 0.83%(-), palmitic acid(C16:0) 39.11% (23.5), palmitoleic acid(C16:1) 2.81%(2.0), stearic acid(C18:0) 9.36%(5.6), oleic acid(C18:1) 25.54%(3.5), linoleic acid(C18:2) 15.05%(32.9), linolenic acid(C18:3) 1.74%(9.8). Judging from the above investigated results, the analytical data of proximate analysis, amino acids, fatty acids of the purified and lyophilized rumen protozoa are reasonable for the feed of freshwater fishes(fry and fingerling). But it was disappointed of our expectation that the crude protein of lyophilized rumen ciliates contains low percentage, it was thought that because of the small ciliates(starch digester) in beef cattle rumens which were administered the concentrated feed, is much difficult to isolate and purify than the large ciliates(fiber digester).

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제20권7호
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• pp.1092-1100
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• 2010

Bacteria, fungi, and protozoa inhabiting the rumen, the largest chamber of the ruminants' stomach, release large quantities of hydrogen during the fermentation of carbohydrates. The hydrogen is used by coexisting methanogens to produce methane in energy-yielding processes. This work shows, for the first time, a fundamental possibility of using a hydrogen-rich fermentation gas produced by selected rumen ciliates to feed a low-temperature hydrogen fuel cell. A biohydrogen fuel cell (BHFC) was constructed consisting of (i) a bioreactor, in which a hydrogen-rich gas was produced from glucose by rumen ciliates, mainly of the Isotrichidae family, deprived of intra- and extracellular bacteria, methanogens, and fungi; and (ii) a chemical fuel cell of the polymer-electrolyte type (PEFC). The fuel cell was used as a tester of the technical applicability of the fermentation gas produced by the rumen ciliates for power generation. The average estimated hydrogen yield was ca. 1.15 mol $H_2$ per mole of fermented glucose. The BHFC performance was equal to the performance of the PEFC running on pure hydrogen. No fuel cell poisoning effects were detected. A maximum power density of $1.66\;kW/m^2$ (PEFC geometric area) was obtained at room temperature. The maximum volumetric power density was $128\;W/m^3$ but the coulombic efficiency was only ca. 3.8%. The configuration of the bioreactor limited the continuous operation time of this BHFC to ca. 14 h.

• 대한수의학회지
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• 제15권2호
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• pp.287-291
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• 1975

In order to observe the kinetic of ciliates inhabited in the stomach, investigation of the content juice in the stomach was carried out on the 30 Korean native cattle, selected as healthy ones and slaughtered at Jeonju abattoir in August, 1974. The following is a brief summary of the leading facts gained through the experiment. 1. The average pH of the content juice showed $6.567{\pm}0.056$(SE) in the rumen, $6.607{\pm}0.053$ in the reticulum, $6.183{\pm}0.056$ in the omasum and $2.627{\pm}0.061$ in the abomasum. 2. The presumed number of ciliates per ml was calculated $168,200{\pm}17,035$(SE) in the rumen, $173,200{\pm}19,728$ in the reticulum, $23.600{\pm}3.537$ in the omasum and $467{\pm}266$ in the abomasum. 3. In the content juice the number of ciliates was gradually slowed down, the pH decreased from rumen to abomasum and the changes were denoted by quadratic curves(parabolas). 4. In accordance with the increase of the number of ciliates the pall also becomes higher and in this situation the correlation coefficient was ${\gamma}_{xy}=0.508$. 5. Population density of ciliates was checked and Entodinium showed 60 per cent among them, but Polyplastron was figured only from 0 to 0.05 per cent. 6. Among 26 species of ciliates which were identified from the content juice, Entodinium simplex was showed the highest population density, raging from 40 to 50 per cent, Dasytricha ruminantium was neat to it, Eudiplodinium affine after the next, and Entodinium caudatum and Eudiplodinium maggi were also found abundantly in the abomasum.

• 대한수의학회지
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• 제19권2호
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• pp.143-147
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• 1979

Eight Holstein cows weighing 419-673kg with 2 to 10 years of age were allocated into two groups, four animals each, to study the effect of feeding urea and urea plus Zeolite on rumen pH and the population of rumen ciliates. Rumen fluid samples were taken after morning feed for 7 times at one hour intervals. Experimental results obtained were as follows; 1. Rumen pH was gradually dropped from 7.272 to 7.163 by 3.01 hour and from 7.18 to 7.07 by 2.87 hour and reached 7.352 and 7.29 at 7 hour after feeding, respectively on urea and urea plus Zeolite feeding group. 2. Total ciliate numbers decreased from 209,540 to 113,755 by 4.311 hour and from 381,430 to 203.125 by 4.406 hour and gradually increased to 151,030 and 265,230 by 7 hour after feeding, respectively on urea and urea plus Zeolite feeding group. 3. Population of ruminal ciliates was not changed and Entodinium simplex was the major ciliate population for both treatments. It was from 81.21 to 89.12% on urea feeding group and from 84.6 to 88.3% of total number of ciliates on urea plus Zeolite feeding group.

• 농업과학연구
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• 제13권1호
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• pp.147-150
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• 1986

한국재래산양(韓國在來山羊)의 생리적(生理的) 기초자료(基礎資料)를 확립(確立)하여 실제(實際) 임상(臨床)에 응용(應用)하고자 건강한 한국재래산양(韓國在來山羊) 14두(頭)를 대상으로 혈청(血淸)및 제일위액(第一胃液) 전해질(電解質)과 더불어 제일위액(第一胃液)의 pH 및 섬모충총수(纖毛蟲總數)에 대하여 조사(調査)하였던 바 다음과 같은 결과(結果)를 얻었다. 1. 혈청전해질직(血淸電解質直)에 있어서 $Na^+$는 $151.9{\pm}4.5$(145~160)mEq/l였고, $K^+$는 $8.1{\pm}1.5$(5.3~10.0)mEq/1였으며, $Cl^-$는 $104.6{\pm}4.6$(99~112)mEq/1였다. 2. 제일위액(第一胃液) 전해질직(電解質直)는 $Na^+$, $K^+$ 및 $Cl^-$이 각각(各各) $104.6{\pm}15.8$(70~131)mEq/l, $38.2{\pm}9.9$(18~58)mEq/l 및 $14.1{\pm}4.3$(8~24)mEq/l였다. 3. 제일위액(第一胃液)의 pH는 $5.6{\pm}0.3$(5.3~6.5)였으며, 섬모충총수(纖毛蟲總數)는 $2.59{\pm}0.8(0.64{\sim}3.29){\times}10^6/ml$였다.

• 대한수의학회지
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• 제30권1호
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• pp.15-27
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• 1990

Effects of oral administration of electrolyte solutions were studied in experimentally dehydrated adult sheep. By the latin square method five ruminal fistulated sheep were examined and dehydrated by deprivation of feed and water for 72 hours. Tap water, physiological saline, 0.45% NaCl+120 mM/L glucose and 0.9% NaCl+1% propylene glycol solution were orally administrated after dehydration, respectively. Rehydration effect and modification of the rumen function were compared. 1. After 72 hours of deprivation of feed and water, sheep were hypertonic dehydrated and blood acid-base parameters were not significantly changed. And there was marked increase in ruminal pH and decrease in ruminal total volatile fatty acid(VFA) concentration. 2. After the fluids administration the changes in blood acid-base parameters were not significant in all groups. 3. Although glucose fermentation in the rumen was observed, 0.45% NaCl+120 mM/L glucose was more effective in rehydration than physiological saline and tap water. But it was difficult to know the rehydration effect of 0.9% NaCl+1% propylene glycol solution exactly because of excessive increase in plasma osmolality. 4. After refeeding, total concentration and proportions of ruminal volatile fatty acid(VFA) were not significantly different among groups and recovered to normal concentration but not in proportions after 2 days in all groups. 5. In vitro cultured ruminal protozoa were susceptible to the decrease of the pH and osmolality.

• Animal Bioscience
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• 제34권7호
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• pp.1146-1156
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• 2021

Objective: The aim of the study was to compare the effect of two plant additives, rich in polyphenolic compounds, supplemented to sheep diets on microorganisms and carbohydrate fermentation in rumen. Methods: In the experiment, 6 ewes of the Polish Mountain breed were fitted with ruminal cannulas. Sheep were divided into three feeding groups. The study was performed in a cross-over design of two animals in each group, with three experimental periods (n = 6 per each group). The animals were fed a control diet (CON) or additionally received 3 g of dry and milled lingonberry leaves (VVI) or oak bark (QUE). Additionally, plant material was analyzed for tannins concentration. Results: Regardless of sampling time, QUE diet increased the number of total protozoa, as well as Entodinium spp., Diplodinium spp. and Isotrichidae family, while decreased bacterial mass. In turn, a reduced number of Diplodinium spp. and increased Ophryoscolex spp. population were noted in VVI fed sheep. During whole sampling time (0, 2, 4, and 8 h), the number of protozoa in ruminal fluid of QUE sheep was gradually reduced as opposed to animals receiving CON and VVI diet, where rapid shifts in the protozoa number were observed. Moreover, supplementing sheep with QUE diet increased molar proportions of butyrate and isoacids in ruminal fluid. Unfortunately, none of the tested additives affected gas production. Conclusion: The addition of VVI or QUE in a small dose to sheep diets differently affected rumen microorganisms and fermentation parameters, probably because of various contribution of catechins in tested plant materials. However, it is stated that QUE diet seems to create more favorable conditions for growth and development of ciliates. Nonetheless, the results of the present study showed that VVI and QUE additives could serve as potential natural modulators of microorganism populations and, consequently, carbohydrate digestion in ruminants.