Table 1.
Isolate GenBank ID, closest GenBank match with percent identity, growth on minimal media or on high salinity, and ability to reduce nitrate.
CM = carboxymethylcellulose, CB = cellobiose, LG = lignin, ST = starch, XY = xylan, 8% = 8% NaCl, 10% = 10% NaCl, NR = nitrate reduction.
Fig 1.
Phylogenetic comparison of 31 fibrolytic isolates along with known sequences (NCBI).
A neighbor-joining tree was created using MEGA ver. 6 and the Kimura 2-parameter model. The asterisk (*) indicates the five probiotic isolates, and the one potential probiotic strain which could not be grown in continuous culture.
Fig 2.
Growth of fibrolytic bacterial isolates at various temperatures (A) and pHs (B), as measured by optical density at 600 nm.
The “-” at 20C and 25C indicates all samples were at max absorbance and there was no distribution.
Table 2.
A comparison of weekly total and mean group weights, intake by feed type, and cost of feed per group weight.
Group weights were not statistically significant (P value > 0.05) at any time point.
Fig 3.
Effect of bacterial probiotic on lamb rumen pH over the first six months of life.
Significance (P < 0.05) is denoted with *, and error bars show standard error mean. MR = milk replacer.
Table 3.
Effect of bacterial probiotic on lamb rumen volatile fatty acid profile and ethanol concentration during the first six months of life.
A = acetate, P = propionate, B = butyrate, IB = isobutyrate, IV = isovalerate, L = lactate, V = valerate, EtOH = ethanol.
Fig 4.
Effect of bacterial probiotic on lamb rumen acetate to propionate ratio over the first six months of life.
Significance (P < 0.05) is denoted with *, and error bars show standard error mean.
Table 4.
Bacterial diversity statistics per sample for each of the four sampling time points.
Results are listed by group, experimental (n = 10) and control (n = 10), or all (n = 20). Using Student’s T-Test: * denotes statistically significant value (P < 0.05) between groups at that time point, and letter superscripts denote statistically significant values between time points for each group. Using two-factor ANOVA with replication: 1 denotes statistically significant value for groups at different time points, and 2 denotes statistically significant interaction between treatment and time point.
Fig 5.
Principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) of lamb rumen bacterial samples by sampling time (A) and treatment (B).
Sampling time (A) is week 2 = teal, week 6 = green, week 11 = red, and week 23 = dark blue for both groups. Treatment (B) is control (con) week 2 = red, experimental (exp) week 2 = green triangle, con week 6 = orange, exp week 6 = teal, con week 11 = yellow, exp week 11 = blue, con week 23 = green, exp week 4 = dark blue.
Fig 6.
Effect of time and bacterial probiotic on the bacterial diversity at the phylum level of the lamb rumen over the first six months of life.
X-axis labeled reflect treatment (Con = control, Exp = probiotic experimental), as well as sampling date. Error bars show standard error mean.
Fig 7.
Effect of time and bacterial probiotic on the bacterial diversity at the family level of the lamb rumen over the first six months of life.
X-axis labeled reflect treatment (Con = control, Exp = probiotic experimental), as well as sampling date.
Table 5.
Linear discriminant analysis of bacterial OTUs in experimental and control groups at four sequencing time points.
Fig 8.
Effect of bacterial probiotic on lamb rumen methanogen and protozoal density, by Real-time PCR.
Significance (P < 0.05) is denoted with *, and error bars show standard error mean.