In a rumen ecosystem, the concentration of bacteria can reach as much as 1 trillion bacteria per milliliter and protozoa can reach up to 10 million per milliliter. Looking at other products out there, are they using the right bacterial species, in the right concentrations, to allow the rumen to function appropriately? When choosing a species specific probiotic, you should consider this.
The rumen bacteria consist of species that are not found in commercial probiotics. Within the rumen you will find bacteria such as Ruminococcus albus, Ruminococcus flavafaciens, Fibrobacter succinogenes, Butyrivibrio fibrisolvens, Bacteriodes ruminicola, Streptococcus bovis, Anaerovibrio lipolytica, ect.. try to find these in a commercial or multi-species labeled probiotic. You will not because it is too difficult to keep them viable in a suspended application. You will however, find many other bacterial species that are much easier to work with and do exceptionally well in the intestinal tract. Just about the only time commercial probiotics will work on a rumen is when the animal is very young, or stressed. The best thing basic probiotics can do for a rumen is make enzymes to help digest feed. But if that’s all they are doing, why not just add the enzymes? If you are relying on a probiotic that is not encapsulated, it will be much harder for the bacteria to survive for a long time period.
As soon as you open a jar of any probiotic that is not encapsulated…what happens??? IF IT IS NOT MICROENCAPSULATED the bacteria are immediately exposed to oxygen, temperature fluctuations, and ultraviolet light (from sun). ALL of these environmental factors are extremely harmful to non-encapsulated bacteria and start to kill them. When these same, non-encapsulated bacteria enter the rumen, propionic acid, butyric acid, lactic acid and acetic acid all start to kill the bacteria, just as Paul said. The micro-encapsulation protects the bacteria from the harmful rumen acids. When the non-encapsulated bacteria enter into the abomasum (true stomach), the hydrochloric acid kills the bacteria as well. Once again the encapsulation protects the bacteria.
How then, do some products work for deer that are not encapsulated?? Once again, most of the benefits come from the enzymes, but over formulation, or feeding a deer too much probiotic, knowing quite well that much of the probiotic will die, is an easy way to do it, but it is not ideal, or practical, and is quite wasteful. The other way to do this is to use beneficial bacteria that naturally protect themselves from harmful factors. These are call spore forming microorganisms. I’m sure you have heard of anthrax. Anthrax is a toxin produced by the bacteria called Bacillus anthracis. Bacillus anthracis can live for thousands of years in the soil and produce anthrax when conditions are right. The reason it can live is due to its ability to produce a spore and protect itself. There are some probiotics that can do this such as Bacillus subtilis or Bacillus licheniformis. I’m sure you can find these on a commercial probiotic label. But what about the others that cannot protect themselves by producing a spore like , Enterococcus faecium, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Bifidobacterium thermophilum, and many more? Are these probiotics not important? Why would you not protect these?
Micro-encapsulating bacteria assists their survival while traveling through the intestine. If you encapsulate using a particular substrate and with the appropriate encapsulation method (Like C&E/Target Does) you can get certain bacterial species to benefit specific areas of the intestine. For example, if you want acidophilus in the beginning section of the duodenum, and you want enterococcus in the ascending and transverse colon, the two different bacteria species will require different encapsulation methods.
In short, different bacterial species and different strains of bacterial species work in various ways and can be very beneficial for overall health, and help reduce pathogenic bacteria in the intestine. But they must be encapsulated to efficiently work. Non encapsulated bacteria have a very short life span while their function in the intestine can be more limited than encapsulated bacteria simply because they are not living long enough to get the job done right. The advantages of non encapsulated bacteria are cost and enzyme production, and are very popular in dairys, but then again, are we feeding Holstein cattle or top end, genetically superior Whitetail Deer?
(co-written with technical/scientific input from Shane Horrocks, owner of C&E Wildlife Products, formerly Target Probiotics Whitetail)