Microbial transaminase activities and their relationship with bovine rumen metabolites

Two each adult male crossbred cattle and murrah buffalo were fed a diet of alfalfa hay, chopped wheat straw, and concentrate mixture. Total rumen transaminase activity of cattle was higher than that of buffalo. Rumen protozoal fractions showed higher total transaminase activity than bacterial fractions in both ruminant species. Besides generally studied glutamate oxalacetate transaminase and glutamate pyruvate transaminase, a large number of other microbial transaminases also have been detected in the rumen of both the ruminant species. Bacterial fractions of rumen liquor were devoid of transaminases utilizing tryptophan, threonine, and lysine as their substrates. Ruminal ammonia and nonprotein nitrogen were correlated positively with microbial transaminases in both species. Transamination reactions may be important for assimilation of ruminal ammonia to cellular proteins.