The advances in dietary protein and carbohydrate nutrition and the microbial diversity and genomics of the rumen bacteria

摘要

The fundamental challenge of ruminant nutrition is still optimization of rumen function. Given that ruminant animals consume diets that are primarily made up of carbohydrates and protein, how the rumen converts this substrate into end-products is of critical importance. The major products of nutritional importance are volatile fatty acids and microbial protein. Many ruminant nutritionists agree that microbial and volatile fatty acid yield of individual feeds is not always additive when feeds are mixed. It is suspected that the interactions between microbial communities are fundamental to our understanding of how feedstuffs interact. A limitation has been our lack of knowledge of the microbial diversity of the rumen. This manuscript serves as an update on the phylogenetic diversity at the phylum level in rumen prokaryotes. Further, microbial genomics is becoming a key to understanding the functional diversity of the rumen. This manuscript also provides an update on the progress of rumen microbial genomics to date.