[Methanogens and manipulation of methane production in the rumen].

Methanogens belong to the kingdom of Euryarchaeota in the domain of Archaea. They are characterized by their ability to produce methane under anaerobic conditions. Methane production in the rumen represents a loss of energy for the host animal, and, in addition, methane eructated by ruminants may contribute to a greenhouse effect or global warming. Reduction or elimination of methanogenesis in the rumen has been touted as a way of improving animal production and may marginally benefit to control of anthropogenic release of methane. More and more scientists focus on ruminal methanogens and methanogenesis recently. Authors summarized the manipulation of methanogenesis in the rumen, including defaunation, feed formulation, adding electron acceptors and stimulation of acetogens. The characteristics of methanogenic Archaea and the recent knowledge of the methanogenesis in the rumen were also reviewed in this article.