Collaboration with University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign - Effect of feeding regime on the ruminant intestinal microbiota

Scientific background: There is no longer doubt of the strong connection between the production systems in the primary industry, the practices in the food processing industry and the public and animal health. Ensiling is a normal practice for the conserva tion of grass in Norway. Using silage products, the quality of the resulting silage improves by controlling the fermentation process obtaining a product of improved nutrient quality. The commercial silage products have different nature: bacteria and fungi cultures; enzymes; fermentation substrates and organic acids solutions. The nature of the ruminal microbiota and the fermentation process in the rumen depend on the characteristics of the diet, and will ultimately affect the composition of the microbiot a further back in the intestinal tract. We wish to study the effects that the different ensilage products have on the gastrointestinal flora and on the dissemination of animal and human pathogens of ruminant origin in comparison with roughage and grain ba sed diets. Background for the collaboration: Because of his expertise in microbial ecology in the gastrointestinal tract, Prof. Roderick I. Mackie from the University of Illinois, USA, (http://www.nutrsci.uiuc.edu/faculty/profile.cfm?id=62) is a very im portant collaborator in this line of research. Prof. Roderick I. Mackie and Prof. Henning Sørum, Norwegian School of Veterinary Science, have collaborated in 2007 with very satisfactory results. Strategy: The collaboration and research results from this p reliminary project will be the platform for future research work. A researcher-project application will be written as a part of this preliminary project, and possibly a KMB-project later on.