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Ponies vs. Steers: Microbial and Chemical Characteristics of Intestinal Ingesta¹

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Beltsville, Maryland 20705 and and University of Maryland, College Park 20740

Abstract

Five ponies and four steers were fed a 7% crude protein, long timothy hay at 2% of body weight for 30 days. The animals were killed 2 hr. after feeding and ingesta samples were collected from the ileum, cecum, and terminal colon of both ponies and steers, the rumen and abomasum of the steers, and from the fundic and pyloric stomach regions of the ponies. Microbial population survey showed that the proportion of Gram-positive cocci was greater in the fore regions of the gut (stomach and ileum) for ponies, but not steers, compared to that in the cecum and terminal colon. In steers, the numbers of cellulolytic bacteria (x 10⁶) and volatile fatty acids (µM) per milliliter, respectively, were greater in the rumen (70.3 and 58.6), than the cecum (6.0 and 34.3), while in the ponies they were greater in the cecum (43.0 and 97.5), than in the terminal colon (7.0 and 25.6) or the stomach (0.0003 and 14.3).

Relatively few coliform bacteria (54 x 10⁴/g) were present in any of the gut regions of either the ponies or steers compared to the viable anaerobic bacteria (2.2 x 10⁹/g) or total bacteria (36 x 10⁹/g). Protozoa were detected in the rumen of steers (102,030/ml) and cecum of ponies (5,668/ml) but not in the cecum of steers. More viable bacteria were detected in the fundic stomach area of the ponies (pH 5.4) than in the pyloric area (pH 2.6). Proteolytic activity per gram ingesta was 30-fold or more greater in the ileum than in the cecum or colon of ponies, which could indicate inefficient cecal or colon microbial protein utilization by ponies.

¹ The authors wish to thank Dr. David Dinius for assisting with the statistical analysis and Dr. Gilbert Samuelson for his help in the sample collection.

² Nutritional Microbiology Laboratory, Nutrition Institute, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Beltsville, Maryland 20705.

³ Department of Animal Science, University of Maryland, College Park 20742.

⁴ Ruminant Nutrition Laboratory, Nutrition Institute, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Beltsville, Maryland 20705.

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