The Biosystems Engineering Alumni of Influence Awards were established in 2021, the 50th anniversary of the first Bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Engineering being awarded by the University of Man.
(Photo : Photo by Arbendra Pratap)
Bacteria were discovered in rumen fluids, which is the biggest compartment of a ruminant s stomach. Ruminants rely on microorganisms to help break down their coarse plant diet. The researchers hypothesized that some microorganisms in a cow s rumen would be able to digest polyesters.
Cow Diet
(Photo : Pixabay)
Cows eat cutin, a natural polyester generated by plants, as a result of their herbivorous diets. Being a synthetic polyester, PET has a chemical structure comparable to that of this natural material. According to corresponding author Doris Ribitsch, a senior scientist at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna, cutin makes up most of the cuticle or waxy outer layer of plant cell walls. Thus, it can be found in abundance in the peels of tomatoes and apples, for example.
Cows Have Hungry Stomach Microbes Capable of Breaking Down Some Plastics
NICOLETTA LANESE, LIVESCIENCE
3 JULY 2021
Microbes fished from the stomachs of cows can gobble up certain kinds of plastic, including the polyethylene terephthalate (PET) used in soda bottles, food packaging, and synthetic fabrics.
Scientists uncovered these microbes in liquid that was drawn from the rumen, the largest compartment of a ruminant s stomach; ruminants include hooved animals like cattle and sheep, which rely on microorganisms to help break down their diet of coarse vegetation.
The rumen acts as an incubator for these microbes, which either digest or ferment foods consumed by a cow or other ruminant, according to the University of Minnesota.
(Image credit: Getty/Marcel ter Bekke)
Microbes fished from the stomachs of cows can gobble up certain kinds of plastic, including the polyethylene terephthalate (PET) used in soda bottles, food packaging and synthetic fabrics.
Scientists uncovered these microbes in liquid that was drawn from the rumen, the largest compartment of a ruminant s
stomach; ruminants include hooved animals like cattle and sheep, which rely on microorganisms to help break down their diet of coarse vegetation. The rumen acts as an incubator for these microbes, which either digest or ferment foods consumed by a cow or other ruminant, according to the
University of Minnesota. The researchers suspected that some microbes lurking in a cow s rumen should be capable of digesting polyesters, substances whose component molecules are linked by so-called ester groups.