Microbial diversity for ruminants

The gut plays a critical role in health and wellbeing and accommodates a vastly complex community of micro-organisms. Inoculation occurs immediately after birth, with diversity and complexity increasing until it has reached a relatively steady state. This diversity is crucial to the gut’s function as a protective barrier and provides resistance to colonisation of pathogenic organisms while having beneficial effects on the immune function. The ruminant has a digestive strategy that relies on a