Degradation of wheat straw and alkaline hydrogen peroxide-treated wheat straw by Ruminococcus albus 8 and Ruminococcus flavefaciens FD-1.

Degradation of wheat straw (WS) and alkaline hydrogen peroxide (AHP)-treated wheat straw (AHPWS) by Ruminococcus albus 8 and Ruminococcus flavefaciens FD-1 was determined by measuring the growth (OD600) of each bacterium and determining DM disappearance (DMD) of the substrate. Complex medium and defined medium with or without the addition of phenylpropanoic acid (PPA) and phenylacetic acid (PAA) were used. Tubes were incubated at 39 degrees C for 8 d. Both OD600 and DMD indicated that AHPWS was degraded to a much greater extent by either bacterium (R. flavefaciens FD-1, 60.8 +/- 1.8% and R. albus 8, 42.3 +/- 3.5%) vs untreated WS (R. flavefaciens FD-1, 16.5 +/- 1.8% and R. albus 8, 8.6 +/- 6%) in the complex medium. Most degradation occurred between d 1 and 4. With the complex medium, addition of PPA and PAA did not stimulate degradation by either bacterium. When the defined medium was used, the addition of PPA and PAA enhanced (P less than .05) degradation of AHPWS (39.6 +/- 2.6%) vs AHPWS with no added PPA and PAA (24.9 +/- 7.6%) by R. albus 8. There was no synergistic effect on degradation when the two species were co-cultured with either WS or AHPWS as the substrate. No effect of PPA and PAA on disappearance of AHPWS was observed for R. flavefaciens FD-1 or when the two bacteria were grown together. Dry matter disappearance analysis showed that R. flavefaciens FD-1 degraded AHPWS more rapidly (6.1 mg/d) than R. albus 8 did (4.2 mg/d) in complex medium.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)