Parts of the Digestive System of Ruminant Animals

Knowledge about the types of digestive systems of animals is necessary to understand more what would be the best fed to be feed to them. The type of feeds to be fed to a certain animals vary, feeds may be more valuable to a certain animals while the others not.

 Digestion of Ruminants 

To fully understand the food requirements to be feed in ruminants animals, first we should know how they digest/chew and utilize the feeds they eat. There are two types of stomach known as complex stomach and simple stomach or mono gastric stomach. Complex stomach are what ruminant have, according to Scribner dictionary, Ruminant any of the numerous cud-chewing, even toed, hoofed mammals constituting the suborder Ruminantia, that have a stomach consisting of four chamber. Yes, they have four compartment (rumen, reticulum, omasum and abomasum), e.g. sheep, goat, cows/cattle, deer, giraffe, antelope, camels and carabao. Simple or mono gastric stomach animals have a single compartment stomach. The most common examples of simple stomach animals are hog/swine, elephant and even human has simple stomach. Poultry are not considered as simple stomach although they have similar digestive system. Ruminant animals do not require maintenance for vitamins and some proteins because they can manufacture their own. The reason for that is because of their digestive systems that support the body in dire needs. The Four Compartments As what we have mentioned above, the four compartment of digestive system of the Ruminant animals known as rumen, reticulum, omasum and abomasums.

 Rumen.The rumen is a fermentation vat par excellance, this is also the largest compartment of the stomach, providing an anaerobic environment, constant temperature and pH, and good mixing feed for further bacterial action. It also serves as the storage area for large volume of feed. Ruminant chew their food just enough for them to swallow, after that regurgitation followed. Regurgitation or chewing the cud is the process of ruminant animals to bring up from the rumen the food back to the mouth and masticate it again. Well-masticated substrates are delivered through the esophagus on a regular schedule, and fermentation products are either absorbed in the rumen itself or flow out for further digestion and absorption downstream. In this site the food were being transformed by millions of bacteria and other microorganisms into low-quality proteins and even some nitrogen compound which is essential in forming amino acid. They also manufactured their own vitamins and nutrients for the utilization of the body and bacteria. the rumen and bacterial action explain why ruminants can digest large volume/amount of roughage and convert them into human food. In young animals other stomach part/compartment is not yet develop thus they must receive a diet containing all the nutrients needed by them, e.g. milk.

 Reticulum. This is closely associated with the rumen and second chamber of the ruminant stomach ,all the foreign objects are retained. It has regular contractions which lead the biphasic ruminal contraction for digestion of food particles. Mechanical digestion and microbial fermentation occur to breakdown food particles for absorption and Volatile fatty acids are the major product of ruminant digestion. The functions of the reticulum include waste removal and movement. Simpler products of digestion are assimilated directly, others continue down the digestive tract for further digestion 

Omasum. The third compartment of ruminants animals, situated on the right side of the abdomen at a higher level than the fourth stomach and between this latter and the second stomach. Its function is not well defined; it seems that the material (food) that enters in this part was being squeeze before it passes through the last part, the abomasum. 

 Abomasum. The fourth or final compartment of the ruminant animals functions as the mono gastric stomach. It serves primarily in the acid hydrolysis of microbial and dietary protein, preparing these protein sources for further digestion and absorption in the small intestine.