Rumen Ciliated Protozoa of the Free-Living European Bison (Bison bonasus, Linnaeus)

Abstract

This study aims to perform population analysis of the rumen ciliated protozoa of the free-living European bison (wisent, Bison bonasus, Linnaeus). The samples of the rumen fluid from the 18 bison subjected to the controlled culls within the free-ranging population in the Bialowieza primeval forest in Poland were collected and examined. The examined ciliates population consisted of the species of the families Isotrichidae and Ophryoscolecidae. There were 12 genera (Isotricha, Dasytricha, Diplodinium, Elytroplastron, Entodinium, Eodinium, Epidinium, Eremoplastron, Eudiplodinium, Metadinium, Ophryoscolex, and Ostracodinium) and 32 morphospecies of the ciliates. We observed the prevalence of a type B protozoan population (56% animals) with the typical Epidinium and Eudiplodinium genera members. Other examined animals possessed the mixed A–B population with Ophryoscolex genus, distinct for type A ciliate population. The average total ciliates count was 2.77 ± 1.03 × 105/ml (mean ± SD). The most abundant genera were Entodinium, 83%, and Dasytricha, 14%. The abundance of other genera was <1% of the total count. Within the 16 Entodinium species determined, the most abundant species was Entodinium nanellum (16.3% of total ciliates count). The average Shannon–Wiener diversity index was 2.1 ± 0.39, evenness was 0.7 ± 0.11, and species richness was 24 ± 3.0 (mean ± SD). Our study is the first report on the population composition and diversity of rumen ciliates of European bison. The composition and counts of ciliate genera and species were similar to the composition and counts of the rumen ciliated protozoa of American bison and many other kinds of free-living and domestic ruminants. Our European bison ciliate population analysis has shown medium ciliate density and high diversity typical for large free-living ruminants with mixed feeding behavior.

Endobiotic Ciliates from the Rumen of the European Bison Bison Bonasus (Linnaeus, 1758) from the Vologda Oblast of Russia

“…2, respectively. Similar results (presented in Table 2 in comparison with our data) were also obtained by other authors [ 12 – 15 ]. According to the data from various studies, members of Entodinium accounted for 60–91.6% of the total number of species.…”

Metabolite Profile, Ruminal Methane Reduction, and Microbiome Modulating Potential of Seeds of Pharbitis nil

“…However, it could not be completely related to the results observed in the current study as different Entodinium spp. that exhibit different predatory behavior are represented in different proportions in the rumen ( Kišidayová et al, 2021 ). Furthermore, the decrease in ruminal NH 3 -N in this study indicates reduced microbial protein turnover due to the inhibition of protozoa ( Dai and Faciola, 2019 ).…”

Effects of dietary D-lactate levels on rumen fermentation, microflora and metabolomics of beef cattle

“…The mixture of fermentation broth and methyl green liquor was dropped onto the Sedgewick-Rafter counting plate and counted under an optical microscope, following the methods described by Kisidayová et al (2021) . The analysis for CH 4 and H 2 concentrations of the gas samples were carried out in accordance with the previous procedures ( Arowolo et al, 2022 ).…”