Observations on the behavior of ciliated protozoa of the rumen of goats (Capra hircus L.) reared in Itapetininga, São Paulo.

Abstract

Samples of rumen contents were collected by stomach tube from fifteen Anglo-Nubian breed goats, every two weeks, since their birth until the age of eleven months. PH measurements and differential counts (by genera) of the ciliates were performed per milliliter of rumen contents. At the age of three months, the caprines started to show rumen fauna mostly represented by the ciliates of the genus Entodinium, at pH 5.8. The rumen fauna tended to stabilize after 10 months, with pH 6.9, reaching the following numbers: Total ciliates counting 217.02 x 10³/ml; Entodinium sp., 151.66 x 10³/ml (69.88%); Diplodinium sp., 55.68 x 10³/ml (25.68%); Epidinium sp., 4.38 x 10³/ml (2.01%); Isotricha sp.,1.51 x 10³/ml (0.69%); Dasytricha sp., 3.79 x 10³/ml (1.74%).