Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
Ruminant Animal Digestive System - Coggle Diagram
Ruminant Animal Digestive System
Anatomy and function
Anatomy of the ruminant digestive system includes the mouth, tongue, salivary glands
Ruminants eat rapidly, swallowing much of their
feedstuffs without chewing it sufficiently
Mouth
Lower incisors work against a hard dental pad; molars crush and grind fibrous plants.
Grazing and gathering feed. Cows, for example, use their tongue to wrap around plants and tear them.
Salivary glands
Produce saliva that helps to buffer rumen pH and aids in the initial breakdown of starch and fat.
Up to 50 quarts a day in a mature cow
Esophagus
Allows them to regurgitate their cud for further chewing,
if necessary.
Reticulum
The reticulum is called the “honeycomb” because of the
honeycomb appearance of its lining.
It sits underneath and
toward the front of the rumen, lying against the diaphragm.
Rumen
The rumen acts as a fermentation vat
by hosting microbial fermentation.
Rumen microorganisms (primarily bacteria) digest
cellulose from plant cell walls, digest complex starch,
Ruminant animals
Cows, sheep, goats, deer, and
antelope,
Hoofed mammals that have a unique
digestive system
Allows them to better use energy
from fibrous plant material than other herbivores.
Efficient use of high-fiber forages, allowing them to thrive on vegetation that other herbivores may not be able to digest properly
Feeding types
Ruminants can be
classified into distinct feeding types: concentrate selectors,
grass/roughage eaters, and intermediate types.
The relative
sizes of various digestive system organs differ by ruminant
feeding type, creating differences in feeding adaptations.
Importance of ruminant livestock
The digestive system of ruminants optimizes use of
rumen microbe fermentation products.
This adaptation lets
ruminants use resources
Ruminants are in a unique position of being able to use such
resources that are not in demand
Process
Forage and feed mixes with saliva containing sodium,
potassium, phosphate, bicarbonate, and urea when
consumed, to form a bolus.
That bolus then moves from
the mouth to the reticulum through a tube-like passage
called the esophagus.
Muscle contractions and pressure
differences carry these substances down the esophagus to
the reticulum.