The Ruminant Digestive System (Day 2)

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The Ruminant Digestive System (Day 2)
Created by Arlene Barrett, Dennis Bratton,
Mariah Gumphry, Haley Vrazel
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Objectives

• Define the functions of ruminant animals.
• Analyze ruminant digestive system.
• Analyze the first two components of the digestive
  system of ruminant animals.

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Ruminant Digestive Systems

• Functions of the digestive system of animals
  include
• ingestion (eating)
• chewing (mastication)
• swallowing (deglutition)
• absorption of nutrients
• elimination of solid wastes (defecation)

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Ruminant Digestive Systems

• The digestive system changes food nutrients into
  compounds that are easily absorbed into the
  bloodstream.

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Ruminant Digestive Systems

• Ruminants are those animals that contain a
  multi-chambered digestive system (polygastric)
  that allows the animal to gain the majority of
  their nutritional needs from forages and other
  roughages.
• cattle, sheep/goats, deer and elk
• Forage refers to grasses, roughages refers to
  other high-fiber food sources.

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Ruminant Digestive Systems

• The digestive tract extends from the lips to the
  anus. It includes the mouth, pharynx, esophagus,
  stomach, and the small and large intestines.
• Accessory glands include the salivary glands, the
  liver, and the pancreas.

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Ruminant Digestive Systems
Pancreas
Pharynx
Rectum
Kidney
Liver
Esophagus
Cecum
Teeth
Picture of digestive system of cow
Anus
Tongue
Colon
Reticulum
Salivary Gland
Rumen
Small Intestine
Omasum
Abomasum
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Ruminant Digestive Systems

• The digestive system of ruminant animals includes
  the
• Mouth - grasps the food
• Teeth - grind the food
• Ruminants have only one set of teeth in the front
  of the mouth (incisors), and two sets in the back
  (molars).
• Tongue - covered with finger-like projections
  (papillae) that contain taste buds.
• Salivary glands - secrete saliva, that moistens
  food and is mixed with the food material to aid
  in swallowing.

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Ruminant Digestive Systems

• Pharynx - funnels food into the esophagus,
  preventing food material from entering the lungs.
• Esophagus - food tube that leads from the mouth
  to the stomach.

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Ruminant Stomach
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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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Ruminant Digestive Systems

• At this point, ruminant animals have a
  multi-chambered stomach
• Reticulum - honeycomb-like interior surface, this
  part helps to remove foreign matter from the food
  material.
• Esophagus empties here
• Prone to hardware disease
• Cattle swallow small pieces of metal
• Can irritate or pierce the lining
• Helped by putting a small magnet into the
  reticulum
• Holding area for food also site of regurgitation

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Reticulum - cleaned
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Ruminant Digestive Systems

• Ruminant animals grasp mouthfuls of food and
  swallow it before it is chewed.
• They wrap their tongue around a mouthful of
  grass, clamp down their teeth, and pull to break
  the grass at its weakest point, and swallow.
• Ruminants will chew their cud (regurgitate)
  their food material and then grind it with their
  molars at a time when the animal is resting.
• This is done until the food particles are small
  enough to pass through the reticulum into the
  rumen.

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Ruminant Digestive Systems

• Rumen - the organ that allows for bacterial and
  chemical breakdown of fiber.
• The rumen has a very thick, muscular wall
• It fills most of the left-side of the abdomen
• Looks like carpet due to papillae lining it
• Fermentation vat
• Primary digestion site for ruminants
• Microbial digestion takes place here
• Breakdown cellulose, simple sugars, and Nitrogen
  containing compounds like protein
• Physical mixing and breakdown
• Not active in the early stages of life

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Papillae in Rumen
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Summary

• Define the functions of ruminant animals.
• Analyze ruminant digestive system.
• Analyze the first two components of the digestive
  system of ruminant animals.

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Resources

• Resources Rakowitz-McMillian Sam Houston State
  Univeristy Animal Science Note Packet