Table 2.

Observations from different articles reporting effects of bacterial probiotics on rumen microorganisms and functions.

Title of research	Treatment/Dosage/System	Observations and summary	Authors
Effect of supplemental Bacillus cultures on rumen fermentation and milk yield in Chinese Holstein cows	Live Bacillus culture (Bacillus licheniformis), 100 g/d (in vivo)	•Increase in microbial crude protein flow into duodenum by 13.5%. •Decrease in ammonia nitrogen concentration in the ruminal fluid at 0.5, 1, 3, 6 h after morning feeding by an average of 18%. •Increased total VFA and acetate concentrations in the ruminal fluid at 0.5, 1, 3, 6 h after morning feeding by an average of 19%. •Ruminal apparent nutrient digestibility of NDF, ADF and OM was also increased.	Qiao et al. (2009)
Repeated ruminal dosing of Ruminococcus flavefaciens NJ along with a probiotic mixture in forage or concentrate-fed dairy cows: Effect on ruminal fermentation, cellulolytic populations	Ruminococcus flavefaciens NJ (in vivo)	•During repeated dosing, it was observed that NJ modified the abundance of other cellulolytic bacterial populations in the rumen when compared with periods with no dosing. •The NJ also improved in sacco digestibility of Timothy hay with the high concentrate diet. •Increase in the persistence of NJ was also noticed in weeks of dosing in the cows.	Chiquette et al. (2007)
Effect of L. plantarum, Pediococcusacidilactici, Enterococcus faecium and L. lactis microbial supplementation of grass silage on the fermentation characteristics in the rumen of dairy cows	A mixture of L. plantarum, Pediococcus acidilactici, Enterococcus faecium and L. lactis/5 × 105 colony forming unit/g of fresh herbage (in vivo)	A significant increase in lactic acid concentration and markedly decreased the concentration of acetic acid in silage. •When fed to the animals, rumen microbe count of the cows fed treated silage was 13.9% higher than that of control. •The ratio of acetic acid to propionic acid was lower by 1.19% in the rumen of cows offered treated silage. •Improved rumen protein synthesis, whereas the content of protein nitrogen and that of total nitrogen in the rumen were higher by 5.17 mg/l00 mL and by 3.37 mg/l00 mL compared to the control.	Jatkauskas and Vrotniakien (2007)

VFA = volatile fatty acid; NDF = neutral detergent fibre; ADF = acid detergent fiber; OM = organic matter.