Bifidobacteria from the Faeces of Piglets

S ummary . Ninety‐five strains of bifidobacteria isolated from 52 specimens of piglet faeces collected at 19 farms were studied. The main phenotypic characters of the strains were determined; however their assignment to known species of the genus Bifidobacterium was based primarily on their deoxyribonucleic acid homology relationships following DNA‐DNA hybridization tests. The majority of the strains were recognized as Bifidobacterium suis Matteuzzi et al. Some strains could not be assigned to any known species of the genus so they were allotted provisionally to 2 unassigned bacterial groups.