Ruminant Digestion

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Ruminant Digestion

• Relationships Between Organisms

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What is a ruminant?

• Specialized digestive system capable of digesting
  cellulose.
• Has a stomach with 4 distinct compartments
• Cattle, sheep, goats, deer elk.

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Compartment Capacity

• Reticulum 5 of capacity
• Rumen 80 of capacity
• Omasum 7 of capacity
• Abomasum 8 of capacity

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Reticulum

• Hardware stomach
• Holds foreign materials like nails
• Omasum
• Muscular section that squeezes out excess water
  from food products before passing along in the
  digestive process.

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Rumen

• Largest compartment
• Storage area
• Millions of bacteria and protozoa live here and
  break down cellulose into digestible protein and
  carbohydrates

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Abomasum

• True stomach
• Site of chemical digestion
• Digestive juices containing enzymes break down
  food products to be absorbed by the small
  intestine

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Ruminant Digestive System
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Types of Relationships between organisms

• Mutualism each helps the other.
• Commensalism one benefits, the other does
  not.
• Parasitism one depend on the other for
  essential food factor, usually harmful to
  the host.
• Phoresis the host carries the symbiont

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Can you guess the type of relationship between
these animals?
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Commensalism

• What is the relationship between
• A tick and a dog?

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Mutalism

• What is the relationship between
• A human and a dairy cow?

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Parasitism

• What is the relationship between
• A lamprey and a trout?

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Phoresis

• What is the relationship between
• A whale
• and a barnacle?

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Vocabulary Review

• Monogastric A digestive system with one stomach
  compartment
• Polygastric A digestive system capable of
  breaking down cellulose into digestible protein
  and carbohydrates. The stomach is divided
  into compartments each with a
  specialized function.
• Ruminant An animal with a polygastric digestive
  system.
• Rumination Part of the process of digestion in a
  polygastric system where a bolus is
  regurgitated, re- chewed and swallowed.

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Vocabulary Review

• Abomasum Site of chemical digestion in a
  polygastric digestive system.
• Reticulum hardware stomach holding area for
  foreign materials in a polygastric system.
• Rumen Largest compartment of the polygastric
  system, serves as a storage area.
• Omasum Muscular portion of the polygastric system
  that squeezes excess water from digested food
  products.

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Vocabulary Review

• Mastication The act of chewing where salivary
  enzymes are added to food products.
• Bacterial digestion The bacterial and protozoa
  action in the rumen of a polygastric digestive
  system that breaks down cellulose into
  digestible carbohydrate and protein products
  and synthesizes B vitamins.
• Bolus Partially chewed food held in the
  reticulum that is regurgitated, chewed
  completely and re- swallowed.

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Vocabulary Review

• Parasitism Relationship between two organisms
  where one depends on the other for some
  essential food factor, often to the detriment
  of the host.
• Mutualism Relationship between two organisms
  where one benefits and the other doesnt.
• Commensalism Relationship between two organisms
  where one benefits and the other
  doesnt.
• Phoresis Relationship between two organisms
  where the host transport the sybiont.