Gas production, chiefly methane, decreased with the addition of antibiotics. This result agrees with the stoichiometric reactions of carbohydrate fermentation in the rumen.The amount of ammonia nitrogen fixed by bacteria was generally lowered by the addition of five antibiotics (nigericin, narasin, monensin, grisorixin and lasalocid) or two derivatives (lasalocid 0-acetyl and nigericin 0-acetyl), indicating a decrease in bacterial synthesis.In contrast, calcimycin improved the butyrate production at the expense of propionate, and had no effect on gas composition or bacterial synthesis ; X 14547 A and alborixin had only a small effect on rumen fermentations. These results, however, must be interpreted with care since the inocula used came from non-adapted sheep.L'emploi d'additifs alimentaires pour manipuler les fermentations dans le rumen est désormais bien connu (Chalupa, 1980). Les antibiotiques, et parmi ceux-ci les antibiotiques ionophores, ont été les plus étudiés au cours de la dernière décennie (Durand, 1982 ;Bergen et Bates, 1984