Abstract
OLIGOTRICH ciliates from the rumen ingest plant particulate matter but, unlike the holotrichs, are apparently unable to utilize soluble sugars1. Some oligotrichs are able to utilize a wide range of plant carbohydrates; thus cell-extracts of Epidinium ecaudatum, isolated from cows fed fresh red clover, have been shown to contain amylase, maltase, hemicellulase2 (xylanase plus arabinosidase), α-galactosidase3 and pectinase4. By contrast one oligotrich species, Entodinium caudatum, appears to live solely on starch grains5. This was confirmed by Abou-Akkada and Howard6, who found amylase and maltase, but no other carbohydrase, in cell-extracts of this organism prepared from a sheep fed on hay plus grain.
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BAILEY, R., CLARKE, R. Carbohydrase Activity of Rumen Entodinium Species from Sheep on a Starch-free Diet. Nature 198, 787 (1963). https://doi.org/10.1038/198787a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/198787a0
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