RESEARCH ARTICLE Fibrolytic Bacteria Isolated from the Rumen of North American Moose (Alces alces) and Their Use as a Probiotic in Neonatal Lambs

Fibrolytic bacteria were isolated from the rumen of North American moose (Alces alces), which eat a high-fiber diet of woody browse. It was hypothesized that fibrolytic bacteria iso-lated from the moose rumen could be used as probiotics to improve fiber degradation and animal production. Thirty-one isolates (Bacillus, n = 26; Paenibacillus, n = 1; and Staphylo-coccus, n = 4) were cultured from moose rumen digesta samples collected in Vermont. Using Sanger sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene, culturing techniques, and optical densi-ties, isolates were identified and screened for biochemical properties important to plant car-bohydrate degradation. Five isolates were selected as candidates for use as a probiotic, which was administered daily to neonate lambs for 9 weeks. It was hypothesized that regu-lar administration of a probiotic to improve fibrolysis to neonate animals through weaning would increase the developing rumen bacterial diversity, increase animal production, and allow for long-term colonization of the probiotic species. Neither weight gain nor wool quality was improved in lambs given a probiotic, however, dietary efficiency was increased as evi-denced by the reduced feed intake (and rearing costs) without a loss to weight gain. Experi