The Ruminant (1) Flashcards
How many stomachs does a cow have?
4
At what part of the tract does microbial digestion take place?
The beginning
What happens once starch enters the rumen?
It will be digested by microbes
What are all carbohydrates broken down into?
Glucose
What is the primary monosaccharide?
Glucose
Is glucose easy to break down?
yes, very
Pyruvate
Quickly broken down and utilised by the the rumen into VFA’s
What are the main VFA’s ?
Acetate, propionate and butyric
What are the main waste products from a ruminant?
CO2 and methane
What is produced when carbs are digested in the rumen?
Production of Acetate, Propionate and Butyric
What is only sometimes produced in the rumen?
Lactate
What happens when lactate builds up?
Acidosis
Will all carbs that enter the rumen digested in the rumen?
No
What does digestibility tell us?
How much feed is digested as it passes through
Digestibility of silage?
70%
What happens when cellulose is passed through the rumen undigested?
It has a very little chance of being digested
What happens when maize passes through the rumen?
Becomes available to be digested in the large intestine
Facts in relation to Corke Park?
-29% of the global surface is land
-Only 2/3 heritable
-50% is agricultural land
-70% for livestock
-30% for crops
What is the main source of energy?
VFA’s
What is a ruminant?
Has the ability to use fermentation as a method of feed digestion
Ruminants have a symbiotic relationship with what?
Microorganisms
What is the rumen a habitat for?
Growth
What are microbes?
Nutrients that would otherwise be unavailable
How many types of ruminants are there?
Over 180
What types of ruminants are there?
- Concentrate selectors
- Intermediate types
- Grass/roughage eaters
Concentrate Selectors
- Don’t have large rumen
- Eat small meals regularly
- Eat the most nutritious part
Intermediate types
- 8 hours grazing
- 8 hours ruminating
- 8 hours of either
Human edible protein output-input ratio for sheep and goats
- 25.5:1 return
- 24.5 gram of human edible protein output for 1 gram of protein
Human edible protein output-input ratio for cattle
- 15:1 return
- 15 grams of human edible protein output for 1 gram of protein
What part in the true stomach?
Abomasum
What stomach squeezes out water?
Omasum
What stomach is the ‘reseeding jar’?
Reticulum
Functions of the rumen?
- Storage
- Structure of carbohydrates
- Synthesis of microbial protein
- Synthesis of essential micronutrients such as Vitamin B
Ruminant GI has 4 compartments
- Storage
- Mixes food with microbes
- Reduces particle size
- Eliminates gases and regulates flow of digesta to gut
Volume of rumen
80-100 L
What is the rumen lined with?
- Filiform and foliate epithelium layers
- Increased SA for VFA absorption
Rumen Pillars
- Contractions force digesta across pillars and mixes it
- Inoculates digesta with MO
- Transfer of VFA to papillae
Cranial pillar
- Holds digesta away from the oesophagus
- Allows new food to enter the rumen(no physical)
Why is it important to leave space for gases to be released in the rumen?
As if they are not released, there will be a build up of gases and this may cause bloat
What is the first compartment that food travels into from the oesophagus?
The reticulum
What does the reticulum hold?
-Any foreign materials (stones) that enter
- If these travel down the tract further, it may puncture the tract of block it
- Small particles transferred to omasum. This controls the flow rate of digesta
What structure is on the epithelium of the reticulum?
honeycomb
Why does the reticulum have an essential role in rumination?
Large particles are forced back into oesophagus and particle size is reduced
What does ruminants convert non-human edible carbohydrates into?
Human available nutrients
What do ruminants and their microbiome have the capacity to create?
- Protein and synthesis other essential nutrients
What is required by microbes in the rumen to synthesis vitamin B12?
Cobalt
What do microbes utilise?
Protein for growth
Omasum structure
- Epithelium arranged in folds called laminae
- These filter digesta
What happens when the laminae contract?
- Acts as a vacuum to absorb nutrients and small particles
- Water, VFA’s, bacteria, MP, particles (<1mm)
- These are absorbed via reticulo-omasal orifice
- Large particles trapped between laminae are flushed back into the rumen for rumination
Omasum shape
- Spherical
- Size of a football
- Muscular folds of tissue inside
Function of papillae
- Absorption
- Removes moisture from digesta as it moves down the digestive tract
Mineral leftover in the omasum
Reduced DM content
What does the omasum absorb?
Most minerals that aren’t absorbed in the rumen
What does the omasum act as a buffer between?
The rumen and the abomasum
Is the gastric stomach low or high pH
Low
What is the only stomach with secretions
- Abomasum
- Protected by mucous from pepsin and HCl
- Only begins to take place in the abomasum
what stage is protein digestion in the abomasum
- The first
- Continued in the small intestine
What does the abomasum act as a buffer between?
- The high rumen pH and the low pH in the abomasum
What happens when there is a decrease in pH in the abomasum
Acidosis
What happens when there is an increase in pH in the abomasum
Diarrhea
What happens when acidosis gets into the blood
The animal dies
What does the mucous in the abomasum do?
Protects the lining of the stomach from HCl and from protein digesting enzymes
Microbial Protein in the Abomasum
-Bacteria synthesis AA’s
- Comprises AA’s in the bacterial cells
- Low pH kills bacteria
- When killed, they become another AA and are digested for example dead bacteria, protozoa etx
For microbial protein to be utilised in the abomasum, what must happen?
Bacteria must be killed
What is the small intestine of a ruminant compared to?
The small intestine of a monogastric
What does the small and large intestine contain?
- Secretions from the pancreas and liver
- Enzymatic digestion of protein, fats, sugars and starch
Where is water mainly absorbed?
Large intestine
What percentage fermentation takes place in the large intestine?
- <10-15%
- Some fermentation of carbohydrates, can be important in some cases
What happens when cows reach their peak fiber intake?
- The fiber is not digested in the rumen but instead in the small and large intestine
Is fermentation in the large intestine as effective as in the rumen?
No
Can animals utilise microbial protein in the small intestine?
- No
- They dont have a chance to
Where is the next stop after the intestines?
Faeces
What are the simple organisms that are the foundations of life?
Bacteria
Where have microbiomes never been cultured?
- Outside of the rumen
- The more we learn, the less we know
What do we want microbiomes to do?
Reduce the amount of methane being produced
What are microbiome very resistance to?
Change
What is bacteria needed for
- To break down grass different to digesting concentrates
How long does it take for microbiome to chance?
- 3-4 weeks
- Resilient
- Plastic identity
- Always springs back
What is rumen fluid dense in?
Bacteria
What is bacteria essential for?
Feed formation
What percentage of bacteria is bound to feed particles?
75%
What doe bacteria digest?
Sugar, starch, lipids, protein
How many bacteria per ml of rumen fluid?
1 billion