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Rumen, also known as a paunch, is the largest part of reticulorumen and first chamber of the alimentary canal in ruminant animals. Digestion in reticulorumen is a complex fermentation process execute by microbes present in rumen. The reticulorumen is one of the few of organs present in the animals which digest cellulose and other recalcitrant carbohydrates, also is the prime site where microbes mediated fermentation of ingested food occurs. The rumen microbial ecosystem is one of the most complex and diverse microbiological environment. Among the diverse flora, genus Ruminococcus is the most well-known microbe that plays important role in degradation of cellulose. Ruminococcus break down the plant fibre into the monosaccharide glucose, which can then be further broken down through glycolysis. It is predicted that 70% of microbes in the rumen have yet to be identified. The proportions of microbes present in the rumen vary greatly depending upon the diet. Robert E. Hungate, in 1940 was the first to investigating this system.
About the author
Associate proffessor in Biotechnology at ARIBAS,New Vallabh vidyanagar (affilated to Sardar Patel University),Anand, India. At present She is working on Metagenomics, Biocontrol, Bioremediation and Trancriptome analysis.
