Production and Modification of Toxic substances in the Rumen

• Some poisonous plants are more toxic to non-ruminants than ruminants.
• Because the ruminal microbes detoxify the toxic compound before they are exposed to gastric digestion and absorption.
• So ruminal microbes can be considered as the first line of defense against toxic substances in feed stuffs & the degradation of toxic materials by ruminal microbes probably has an important role in competitive success of ruminant species.
• In contrast to this beneficial effect, ruminal microbes can also produce toxic compounds.
• In some cases these toxic product may be subsequently detoxified by the microbes but these detoxification reactions may not occur rapid enough to prevent accumulation of harmful concentration of these toxic compounds.