Evaluation of lugol solution used for counting rumen ciliates

The present study proposes a modification of the technique described by PURSER & MOIR (1959) for the quantitative evaluation of rumen ciliate based on an adaptation described by DEHORITY (I984). The modifying process includes: the replacement of two drops of brilliant green dye, for at least four hours, by three drops of lugol solution, for at least 15 minutes. It was made a comparative evaluation of these stainings. It was concluded that lugol solution can replace the brilliant green dye showing the following advantages: staining time reduction and subsequent speeding of sample processing; evidence of skeletal plates of entodiniomorphs making its identification easier; improved observation of small ciliates and inconspicuous structures; improved total counting and generic identification of the ciliates.