Ruminants digestive system

There are many modifications of this method, they may be to make the process more representative of the ruminant digestive system, or the desired residue may be just the plant cell walls. It is not always possible to say that one procedure is better than another, therefore the chosen procedure may be that which has been used by workers involved in animal nutrition over a number of years in a certain geographical area. The decision may be to use the usual procedure favoured by the referees for research papers in a particular journal. 

The initial series of experiments assessed the stability of the conjugates to the pH and temperature conditions (37 °C) found in the mammalian GIT pH 1 and pH 9 were chosen to represent the normal extremes of acidity and basicity in the human. While pH 5 provided an intermediary value, it is also relevant to parts of the ruminant digestive system. The rate of degradation of the conjugates was monitored over a 24-hour period by LC-MS/MS (turbo ion spray interface). Optimization of the LC system provided an efficient method in which several compoimds could be analyzed simultaneously. During the early... 

Thalib A (2004) In vitro study of effectiveness of saponin from Sapindus rarak fruit as methanogenesis inhibitor on ruminal digestion system. J Dmu Temak Veteriner 9 164-171 (in Indonesiem)... 

Toxins from plants may affect internal organs, such as the heart, kidney, liver, and stomach. Because of their very different digestive systems involving multiple stomachs, ruminant animals may react differently to these toxins than do monogastric animals. Some major plant toxins that affect internal organs are summarized in Table 19.1. 

The >3(1 — 4) linkage is particularly stable with respect to hydrolysis. Cellulose cannot be digested by mammals, but some insects (notably termites and wood-eating cockroaches), protozoans and fungi possess celluloses, enzymes that can hydrolyze the /3(1—>4) linkages. Ruminants, such as sheep and cattle, can digest cellulose because of the protozoans that live symbiotically in their digestive system. 

Avoid overtaxing the fat-handling capabilities of digestion systems of the respective species, especially young animals and ruminants. 

Nonruminant Mammalian Systems. Fat digestion is described in greater detail in the following sections. The digestive systems of monogastric animals (swine, mink, and fish), a ruminant (bovine), a nonmminant herbivore (horse), and an avian (hen) are shown in Figure 2 (4). 

Figure 2. Digestive systems of representative animals. (1) Monogastrics with nonfunctional cecums swine (omnivore), mink (carnivore), and catfish (omnivore). (2) Nonruminant herbivore with functional cecum and colon horse. (3) Ruminant bovine. (4) Avian hen. Reprinted by permission from Ref. 4.

Ruminants. Treatment of ruminants with L-ascorbic acid has merit in unusual circumstances rather than any type of routine practice since these species synthesize their requirements in their normal life cycle pattern. The digestive system of the young calf or lamb functions similarly to that of monogastric animals for the early weeks of life until the ruminating process is initiated. 

The organisms that form methane live in anaerobic (oxygen-lacking) conditions. Those significant for global methane are found in the digestive systems of ruminants (cattle, sheep, etc.) and termites and in organic carbon-rich aquatic systems (shallow freshwater sediments and rice paddies). 

Ruminants include those animals that we normally think of as cud-chewing, or ruminating animals common examples include cattle, sheep, and goats. The most unusual feature of these animals involves their digestive system, and in particular their multi-compartmented stomach. They are commonly referred to as having four stomachs. The true stomach, that part comparable to the stomach of man, is preceded by 3 other compartments. These are, in order, the rumen, reticulum, omasum, and abomasum. 

Methane is formed in biological processes that occur in low-oxygen environments. Anaerobic bacteria, which flourish in swamps and landfills, near the roots of rice plants, and in the digestive systems of cows and other ruminant animals, produce methane FIQURE 18.14). It also leaks into the atmosphere during natural-gas extraction and transport. It is estimated that about two-thirds of present-day methane emissions, which are increasing by about 1% per year, are related to human activities. 

A FIGURE 18.14 Methane productioa Ruminant animals, such as cows and sheep, produce methane in their digestive systems. 

The digestive system of cows and other ruminant animals contain bacteria that break down cellulose and produce methane gas. Some large ruminants produce hundreds of liters of methane per day. The large increase in the world population of catde and sheep has given rise to a large increase in methane emissions from this source. 

A phenolic compound that resembles lignans in structure, platyphylloside (61), from Betula pendula, the Scandinavian birch, has been shown to account for 80% of the observed depression of in vitro organic matter digestibility in ruminant test systems (Sunnerheim et al., 1988). This observation cor-... 

Chapter 13 examines the protein value of foods and the measures used to quantify protein supply to both monogastric and ruminant animals, which, again, differ as a consequence of their digestive systems. Details are given of the current protein evaluation systems used in the UK. 

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