Miron, J., Metabolic Unit, Institute of Animal Science, ARO, The Volcani Center, PO Box 6, Bet Dagan, 50250, Israel
Ben-Ghedalia, D., Metabolic Unit, Institute of Animal Science, ARO, The Volcani Center, PO Box 6, Bet Dagan, 50250, Israel

Cell walls (CW) of untreated wheat straw and sulphur-dioxide (SO2)-treated wheat straw were used as model substrates for the hydrolysis and utilization of CW carbohydrates by pure cultures or pair-combinations of defined rumen bacterial strains. Fibrobacter succinogenes S85 and BL2 strains and their co-cultures with D1 were the best degraders of CW among ruminal cultures, solubilizing 37.2-39.6% of CW carbohydrates of untreated straw and 62.2-74.5% of SO2-treated straw. Complementary action between Butyrivibrio fibrisolvens D1 and the F. succinogenes strains was identified with respect to co-culture growth and carbohydrate utilization. However, the extent of CW solubilization was determined mainly by the F. succinogenes strains. In both substrates, utilization of solubilized cellulose by F. succinogenes S85 and BL2 monocultures was higher than that of xylan and hemicellulose: 96.5-98.3%, 34.4-40.5% and 33.5-36.2%, respectively. Under scanning electron microscopy visualization, S85 and BL2 cells of the co-cultures comprised the most dense layer of bacterial cell mass attached to and colonized on straw stems and leaves, whereas D1 cells were always nearby. Stems and leaves of the untreated straw were less crowded by attached bacteria than that of the SO2-treated straw. In both materials, the cell surface topography of S85 and BL2 bacteria attached to CW particles was specified by a coat of characteristic protuberant structures, "polycellulosome complexes". © 1992 Springer-Verlag.