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Ammonia Saturation Constants for Predominant Species of Rumen Bacteria

Departments of Dairy Science and Microbiology, University of Illinois, Urbana 61801

ABSTRACT

Ammonia saturation constants were determined for representative pure cultures of predominant, anaerobic, fermentative rumen bacteria. Based on growth experiments with ammonia limited continuous cultures, average estimates for ammonia saturation constants of Bacteroides amylophilus and Bacteroides ruminicola were 10.5 and 23.5 µM ammonia-nitrogen, respectively. With ammonia-limited linear-growth cultures, the estimates for the ammonia saturation constants of B. amylophilus, B. ruminicola, and Selenomonas ruminantium were, respectively, 6, 33.5, and 18 µM. ammonia nitrogen. By a third method, which involved estimation of ammonia concentration in the medium when the growth rate of ammonia-limited batch cultures reached half maximal, the ammonia saturation constant was determined for the species mentioned as well as Megaspaera elsdenii and Ruminococcus flavefaciens. Except for M. elsdenii, saturation constants of the other bacteria were less than 50 µM ammonia nitrogen. An organism with a saturation constant for ammonia of 50 µM growing in a medium containing 1 mM ammonia should achieve 95% of its maximum specific growth rate. Many of the predominant species of rumen bacteria are efficient scavengers of ammonia.

¹ Department of Animal Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907.

² Submitted in partial fullfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Nutritional Sciences, University of Illinois, 1979.

³ Department of Dairy Science.

⁴ Department of Microbiology.

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