The concentration of soluble polysaccharides in the rumen contents of sheep fed on hay

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SUMMARY On the feeding regimes examined, i.e. hay ad libitum restricted hay and restricted hay with supplementary glucose, the quantities of extracellular water-soluble polysaccharides in rumen liquor were small (3·6–9·0 mg/100 ml) and could have originated from the diet or the saliva as well as from microbes. The polysaccharides extracted with hot water (fraction B) and acetate buffer (fraction C) were also small in amount in the rumen liquor from sheep on any of these diets (less than 56 mg/100 ml) and were composed of rhamnose—containing polysaccharides, starch-like polysaccharides and xylose polymers. Syntheses of these B and C polysaccharides were found with the hay and glucose diet but the quantities involved were small (12·27 mg/100 ml rumen liquor). Degradation of the polysaccharides occurred at 4–6 h after feeding. The consistently high ratios of rhamnose to hexose in the B and C polysaccharides from rumen liquor suggest that these were microbial in origin. Iodine-staining organisms in the rumen liquor were a small proportion of the total and showed no increases after feeding.