Effect of extracellular lactate on growth of rumen lactate producers.

The addition of Na-lactate (50-150 mmol/l) to media with glucose had only marginal effect on the growth of rumen lactate-producing bacteria at pH between 6.5 and 5.8. Butyrivibrio fibrisolvens was somewhat more sensitive to external lactate than Streptococcus bovis, Lactobacillus fermentum and Selenomonas ruminantium. It can be concluded that rumen lactate producers, which proliferate at the onset of rumen lactic acidosis, are not influenced by the lactate accumulation, except some non-specific osmotic effects.