Cattle digestion

Mercerized cellulose fibers have improved luster and do not shrink further. One of the main reasons for mercerizing textiles is to improve their receptivity to dyes. This improvement may result more from the dismption of the crystalline regions rather than the partial conversion to a new crystal stmcture. A good example of the fundamental importance of the particular crystal form is the difference in rate of digestion by bacteria. Bacteria from cattle mmen rapidly digest Cellulose I but degrade Cellulose II very slowly (69). Thus aHomorphic form can be an important factor in biochemical reactions of cellulose as well as in some conventional chemical reactions. 

Cobalt is one of twenty-seven known elements essential to humans (28) (see Mineral NUTRIENTS). It is an integral part of the cyanocobalamin [68-19-9] molecule, ie, vitamin B 2> only documented biochemically active cobalt component in humans (29,30) (see Vitamins, VITAMIN Vitamin B 2 is not synthesized by animals or higher plants, rather the primary source is bacterial flora in the digestive system of sheep and cattle (8). Except for humans, nonmminants do not appear to requite cobalt. Humans have between 2 and 5 mg of vitamin B22, and deficiency results in the development of pernicious anemia. The wasting disease in sheep and cattle is known as bush sickness in New Zealand, salt sickness in Florida, pine sickness in Scotland, and coast disease in AustraUa. These are essentially the same symptomatically, and are caused by cobalt deficiency. Symptoms include initial lack of appetite followed by scaliness of skin, lack of coordination, loss of flesh, pale mucous membranes, and retarded growth. The total laboratory synthesis of vitamin B 2 was completed in 65—70 steps over a period of eleven years (31). The complex stmcture was reported by Dorothy Crowfoot-Hodgkin in 1961 (32) for which she was awarded a Nobel prize in 1964. 

Animals lack the enzymes necessary to catalyze the hydrolysis of cellulose and so can t digest it. Cattle and other ruminants use cellulose as a food source indirectly. 

Mansion, R. Gleed, P. T. (1985). Reaction cements as materials for the sustained release of trace elements into the digestive tract of cattle and sheep. II. Release of cobalt and selenium. Journal of Veterinary Pharmacology Therapeutics, 8, 374-81. 

The second benefit of white clover is that it increases animal production, whether in terms of higher milk yield for dairy cows or faster growth rate in beef cattle and lambs. The extra production is derived from the higher intake of white clover compared with grass of the same digestibility and also from its higher protein content. 

The biogas plant of BIMA-system realized on basis of the test results fulfils the projected parameters, it is suitable for producing biogas by digesting litterless cattle slurry. A basic precondition of the profitable operation is the total utilization of the... 

The cattle manure with about 25 p.c. dry matter content and the litter is transported by trailer to the reception hopper for manure and solid organic wastes. From here manure will be delivered by a bucket elevator, with the help of feed screw conveyor into the digester tower made of anticorrosive steel. The slurry and the sewage water mixed with faeces will be pumped into the digester. 

Tilche A., De Poli F., Ercoli L., Tesini O., Cortellini L., Piccinini S. An improved plug-flow design for the anaerobic digestion of dairy cattle waste paper presented to the International Conference State of the art on biogas technology transfer and diffusion , Cairo, November 17-24, 1984. 

Table 1 Changes in bacterial population during and after Anaerobic Thermophilic Digestion of cattle waste in a pilot plant...

Cellulose differs from amylose principally in the stereochemistry of the acetal linkages, which are a in amylose but P in cellulose. a-Amylase is specific for al 4 bonds and is not able to hydrolyse pi 4 bonds. An alternative enzyme, termed cellulase, is required. Animals do not possess cellulase enzymes, and thus cannot digest wood and vegetable fibres that are predominantly composed of cellulose. Ruminants, such as cattle, are equipped to carry out cellulose hydrolysis, though this is dependent upon cellulase-producing bacteria in their digestive tracts. 

When planning for Tilley and Terry digestibilities, it is common practice to ensure that the sheep or cattle have been fed for a couple of weeks on a basal diet similar to the test samples to be analysed. This is to ensure a buildup of the appropriate rumen flora resulting in a corresponding optimal activity. Whether or not this is necessary is open to question, and this and other sources of error have been discussed by Ayres (1991). It is also customary not to feed the animal on the morning planned for extracting the rumen liquor. 

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