Experiments on the Biology of Infusoria Inhabiting the Rumen of Goats Helen A
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Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Retrospective Theses and Dissertations Dissertations 1930 Experiments on the biology of infusoria inhabiting the rumen of goats Helen A. Mowry Iowa State College Follow this and additional works at: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd Part of the Physiology Commons, Veterinary Physiology Commons, and the Zoology Commons Recommended Citation Mowry, Helen A., "Experiments on the biology of infusoria inhabiting the rumen of goats " (1930). Retrospective Theses and Dissertations. 14255. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd/14255 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Dissertations at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Retrospective Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 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ProQuest Infomnation and Learning 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 USA 800-521-0600 NOTE TO USERS This reproduction is the best copy available. UMI" EXPSRIMEETS OS THE BIOLOGT OP IHPUSORIA INHABITING TEE RUIIEH OP GOATS BT Helen A. Mowry A Thesis. Submitted to tlie Graduate Faculty for the Degree of DOCTOR OP PHILOSOPHT Major Subject Zoology Approved Signature was redacted for privacy. Signature was redacted for privacy. Head of DepartmenF Signature was redacted for privacy. Dean of Graduate College Iowa State College 1930 UMI Number: DP14502 UMI ® UMI Microform DP14502 Copyright 2006 by ProQuest information and Leaming Company. MI rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest Information and Leaming Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. 60x1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 -2- TA3I3 OF GGSTZI^S page USTHOruG^IOH 4 -RZvin:: OF Lms-^^roRs s !rlil IITV-STIGATIOS 14 Pui^osQ of the Hosearch. 14 Icethod of Procedure.14 Siatenerit of tlie probl^';: 14 Species of protozoa present.............. 15 Ixsperinsntal 3i3t:iods.,. 16 Obtaining sanples 16 Feeding 16 Deterafjiing pH. 16 Gorunting and coisputing. 17 Determining percentage of sediinent. 17 Determining vol-cme of protogoa 18 Presentation of Data... 18 Different feeds, tables of results, etc 18 Effects on numbers of protozoa of feeding fresh green plants 18 Effects with green fodder and grain... 20 Effects Vs-ith gz^in 20 Sffects with alfalfa hay 20 Sffects with alfalfa hay and grain 24 Effects with alfalfa hay, grain and dis tilled water 24 Effects of starvation.. 28 Effects of reinstated feeding with hay and grain 28 Effects -ijith hay. 28 Effects with hay supplemented by cracked com. 31 Effects -jrith hay suorjlemented by carbohydrate food 31 Effects tfith hay and starch supplemented by- protein foodstuffs 31a Effects of pregnancy 36 Effects of lactation. 35 Effects of cessation of lactation.... 39 TJeight of goats 39 \ page Effect of pH 42 Effect of density 43 Ox OJ- xxif••••••«»•••««•*•«•• 4o Vdune of protozoa 43 T-^Tv •• CTr-^"' "rr^r AO '.Tm ~ T''^.*T C v> »> o ^ •••«•••••••••»••»••••#••«*••••«•*•••»»••# OO IHTROIfiJCTIOIi In 1845, Gruby and Delafond, -while performing experiments on digestion, discovered the protozoan fauna of the rumen and reticolun of dosiesticated ruminants. 3!iae ^np.^r^ interest in the runen inTasoria centered at first in their iisorphology and classification, ivith occasional opinions expressed as to the physiological role in the host animals. Later investigations have dealt aainly with the latter phase of the subject. In a re cent paper by Becker, Schulz and Sanerson (1930), the various vieijs regarding the value of the rumen infusoria to their hosts have been discussed" and the literature cited. They aiention the folloising six outstanding opinions as to the significance of the presence of infusoria in the nraen; (1) Eb.e rumen infusoria con vert plant substances "srithin their bodies into aniinal substances which are aore readily available to the digestion of the host; (2) they are useful as scavengers in reducing the nuinbers of bacteria and noulds that xnultiply in the rumen of the ruminants (bacteriophagic activities); (3) they are injurious parasites, causing pathological conditions in the digestive canal; (4) they aid mechanically in the rumen contents; (5) they digest considerable amounts of cellulose, thus making it available to the host animals; (6) they are present merely as harmless commensals. In the coTirse of their experiments, Becker, Schulz and Sbmerson ar rived at the conclusion that, until further investigations have definitely proved otherwise, the rumen infusoria must be regarded as mere harmless commensals. 2he research reported in this paper represents anotiier sietliod of approach to the probien of the significance of the host-parasite relationship in the instance -under consideration. -6- EEYIEr; OF LUTERATimE Dogiel (1925) fcnmd tliat certain runien infusoria of ante lopes v/ere definitely concerned in the nechanical coLE-inution of plant particles, and also that certain ones fed upon the fiher bundles, and others upon the rectangular parenchyma cells of the t epiderziis. Diplodinium gracile and D. crasstua., for example, seize • upon the free ends of fiher "bundles projecting from a piece of grass and tsar them off. Eventually the piece of grass is re duced to S2iall bits consisting of the parenchyma cells. As the fibers are ingested, the Diplodinia roll theai up into a coil within their bodies. Other Diplodinia, as for exanple D. bubalidis, D. mediuE. and D. naggii, attack not the fibers, but the parench^aa cells- PurthsiTiiore, he observed that the cellulose particles •which isers taken into the bodies of the infusoria were subsequently expelled through the anas -adthout any change of either size or out line. He did not deterniine, however, lirhether or not the particles remained unchanged cheaically. Trier (1926) states that he has observed that the cellulose and other plant elements ingested by the ruzoen infusoria are in large part digested, since they are reduced in the endoplasE. to a fine-grained detritus, which is ezsroelled later through the anus. In the light of his own easperiaients and those previously perfomxed by Eberlein (1895), Gunther (1899) and Liebetanz (1910) on the con ditions governing the appearance and disappearance of infusoria in the rusen. Trier concluded that the ruaen infusoria required green plant food for their gro^rth and development. He felt that the -.7- presence of chlorophyll was the necessary factor in detemining the development of these infusoria. He did not accord to the infusoria any special value to the host animal as a source of protein food naterial, hut suggested an indirect advantage to the ruciinant "by a symbiosis between cellulose-digesting bacteria and ruaen infusoria. Perber (1928 and 1929) did soize iHrpo2?tant work in deterain- ing the numbers of infusoria nonaally inhabiting the ruiaen under normal feeding conditions. For goats in a healthy condition and •aith normal feeding the nuniber approxiaiated 800 to 1,000 infusoria per cubic millimeter'of rumen contents, or pj^actically 1,000,000 per cubic centimeter. For cotinting the infusoria he used" a Fuchs-Rosenthal blood-corpuscle counting chamber. He found that the infusoria vieve extraordinarily sensitive to unfavorable con ditions of noTirishment. ^hey disappeared within three or four days -crhen the host was starved, but reappeared after four or five days -srith r©sun5)tion of feeding. The infusoria seemed to disappear always in a certain order and to reappear in the reverse order of the disappearance. The infusoria appeared in lasiis and kids only after they commenced to eat hay. In feeding adult animals with hay and water alone, however, the number of infusoria declined, only to rise again with the addition of more nourishing foodstuffs. Starch grains were apparently digested in the endo- plasm throx:igh the agency of enzymes secreted by the rumen infusoria themselves, but the fat droplets of milk were digested inside the bodies of the infusoria through the action of the bacteria which had "been ingested from the sTiprounding laedixjm. It has repeatedly been observed that the infusoria inhabit only the first t^ffo pouches of the rusiinant stomach, and that those which pass into the third and fourth sections of the stoiaach are digested. With this fact in mind, Perber (1928) ezper- iinented lyith the possibility of the infusoria utilizing non- albrmiaous foodstuffs and converting them into the protein of their oxm bodies, and thus increasing by this synthetic process the protein supply of their hosts. He fed the nnainants food rich in carbohydrates, but poor in protein, supplemented by the amides ammonium acetate and urea. He fomd that the infusoria could not xise nitrogen-containing substances of a non-protein nature in the synthesis of their own protoplsism, for there isras no subsequent increase in numbers su<di as followed the use of proteins as supplementary foods. Therefore, he denied the hypothesis that the infusoria synthesize proteins from amides. He did believe, however, that the host derived benefit from, the process of converting plant protein, difficult to digest, in to an^Tnal protein, st^jposedly more easily digested.