Culture and Metabolism of the Rumen Ciliate Epidinium ecaudatum Crawley

The rumen ciliate Epidinium ecaudatum was cultured for 6 months in the presence of two strains of bacteria, starch, alfalfa, linseed oil meal, and buffered saline. The cultures required daily transfer and addition of fresh substrate. The protozoan degraded starch, soybean oil meal, linseed oil meal, and cottonseed oil meal, and the fermentation end products from the breakdown of starch were acetic and butyric acids with traces of formic, propionic, and lactic acids, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen. The relationship of E. ecaudatum to other species of rumen oligotrichs and bacteria is discussed.