Rumen Contents (rumen + content)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Effect of supplemental yeast culture and sodium bicarbonate on ruminal fermentation and blood variables in rams

JOURNAL OF ANIMAL PHYSIOLOGY AND NUTRITION, Issue 11-12 2006
Nurten Gal
Summary A trial was conducted to evaluate the effect of sodium bicarbonate (BC) and Saccharomyces cerevisiae, live yeast culture (yea sacc1026, YS) on ruminal fermentation and blood variables. Four Kivircik rams with ruminal cannula were used in a Latin square design, during 27-day periods (20 days for adaptation and 7 days for collection). They received 0 (control group), 5 g/day (i.e. 25 × 109 CFU) of YS or 10 g/day of sodium BC or 10 g/day of BC and 5 g/day of YS (BC + YS) (treatment groups). The cultures and sodium BC were added to the ration in a grain mix. The ration consisted of 70% grain mix and 30% lucerne hay. Rumen contents were collected before and 3 h and 6 h after morning feeding on days 1 and 7 in each collection period and were analyzed. Blood samples were also collected on the same days. Ruminal pH at 3 h (p , 0.1) and 6 h (p , 0.05) after feeding were higher when rams were fed BC and BC + YS than when they were fed CG and YS. Addition of YS to the diet did not modify the proportions of the different protozoa types; only Diplodinium at 0 h tended to be lower (p < 0.1) when rams were fed YS, BC and BC + YS than when they were fed CG. Plasma sodium value decreased by YS and BC + YS. Other biochemical and haematological variables were not affected by treatments. Also total volatile fatty acid, NH3 -N concentrations and protozoa counts in the ruminal fluid were not affected by treatments. [source]


The intraruminal papillation gradient in wild ruminants of different feeding types: Implications for rumen physiology

JOURNAL OF MORPHOLOGY, Issue 8 2009
Marcus Clauss
Abstract Browsing and grazing ruminants are thought to differ in the degree their rumen contents are stratified,which may be due to different characteristics of their respective forages, to particular adaptations of the animals, or both. However, this stratification is difficult to measure in live animals. The papillation of the rumen has been suggested as an anatomical proxy for stratification,with even papillation indicating homogenous contents, and uneven papillation (with few and small dorsal and ventral papillae, and prominent papillae in the atrium ruminis) stratified contents. Using the surface enlargement factor (SEF, indicating how basal mucosa surface is increased by papillae) of over 55 ruminant species, we demonstrate that differences between the SEFdorsal or SEFventral and the SEFatrium are significantly related to the percentage of grass in the natural diet. The more a species is adapted to grass, the more distinct this difference, with extreme grazers having unpapillated dorsal and ventral mucosa. The relative SEFdorsal as anatomical proxy for stratification, and the difference in particle and fluid retention in the rumen as physiological proxy for stratification, are highly correlated in species (n = 9) for which both kind of data are available. The results support the concept that the stratification of rumen contents varies among ruminants, with more homogenous contents in the more browsing and more stratified contents in the more grazing species. J. Morphol., 2009. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]


Convergence in the macroscopic anatomy of the reticulum in wild ruminant species of different feeding types and a new resulting hypothesis on reticular function

JOURNAL OF ZOOLOGY, Issue 1 2010
M. Clauss
Abstract The reticulum is the second part of the ruminant forestomach, located between the rumen and the omasum and characterized by honeycomb-like internal mucosa. With its fluid contents, it plays a decisive role in particle separation. Differences among species have been linked to their feeding style. We investigated whether reticulum size (absolute and in relation to rumen size) and size of the crests that form the mucosal honeycomb pattern differ among over 60 ruminant species of various body sizes and feeding type, controlling for phylogeny. Linear dimensions generally scaled allometrically, that is to body mass0.33. With or without controlling for phylogeny, species that ingest a higher proportion of grass in their natural diet had both significantly larger (higher) rumens and higher reticular mucosa crests, but neither reticulum height nor reticulum width varied with feeding type. The height of the reticular mucosa crests represents a dietary adaptation in ruminants. We suggest that the reticular honeycomb structures do not separate particles by acting as traps (neither for small nor for large particles), but that the structures reduce the lumen of the reticulum during contractions , at varying degrees of completeness in the different feeding types. In browsing species with rumen contents that may be less fluid and more viscous than those of the reticulum, incomplete closure of the lumen may allow the reticulum to retain the fluid necessary for particle separation. In grazing species, whose rumen contents are more stratified with a larger distinct fluid pool, a more complete closure of the reticular lumen due to higher crests may be beneficial as the reticulum can quickly re-fill with fluid rumen contents that contain pre-sorted particles. [source]


Protozoan population and fermentation parameters of rumen contents of sheep from heavy metal contaminated area

THE JOURNAL OF EUKARYOTIC MICROBIOLOGY, Issue 2 2005
Z. VÁRADYOVÁ
The rumen contents from Slovak Merino sheep (12 months of age) were used for in vitro study on the influence of area contaminated by heavy metals on rumen fermentation and protozoan activity. Sheep were browsing in the contaminated area of Kal'ava village (Slovakia) and were exposed to 1-year intake of heavy metals. The area of Kal'ava is contaminated by atmospheric pollution from the non-ferrous metal works at Krompachy (Slovakia). Based on the levels of mercury (4.8 mg'kg), copper (232.9 mg/kg), cadmium (1.2 mg/kg), lead (92.5 mg/kg) and arsenic (74.6 mg/1) the soil was categorized as profusely contaminated. Grass contamination was below the toxic limits. In the tested materials, copper was present at the highest levels followed by lead and arsenic. Meadow hay was used as a tested substrate of fermentation activity; it was incubated with buffered rumen fluid for 24 h. The significantly decreased values of fermentation parameters (total gas, methane, total VFA, acetate) were associated with a reduced total concentration of protozoans. Significant decrease was detected in the total rumen ciliate population and population of c. No significant differences were observed in the concentration of Dasytricha ruminantium and Ophryoscolex c. tricoronatus. The study was supported by funds from Grant Agency for Science of the Slovak Academy of Sciences (2/3058/23, 2/3064/23) and funds from APVT grant (51012602). [source]


The Rumen Ciliate Fauna of Domestic Sheep (Ovis ammon aires) from the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus

THE JOURNAL OF EUKARYOTIC MICROBIOLOGY, Issue 4 2001
BAYRAM GÖÇMEN
ABSTRACT. Concentration and composition of ciliate protozoa in the families Ophryoscolecidae and Isotrichidae were determined in rumen contents of domestic sheep (Ovis ammon aries) from Cyprus. A total of five genera of Ophryoscolecidae were identified, Metadinium, Enoploplastron, Polyplastron, Epidinium, and Ophryoscolex, which included six species: Metadinium affine, Enoploplastron triloricatum, Polyplastron multivesiculatum, Epidinium ecaudatum, Epidinium graini, and Ophryoscolex purkynjei. Eight separate forms of Epidinium were identified (E. ecaudatum f. ecaudatum, E, e. f. caudatum, E. e. f. bicaudatum, E. e. f. tricaudatum, E. e. f. quadricaudatum, E. graini f. graini, E. g. f. caudatricoronatum, and E. g. f. caudaquadricoronatum), along with five forms of Ophryoscolex purkynjei (O. p. f. purkynjei, O. p. f. bifidobicinctus, O. p. f. bifidoquadricinctus, O. p. f. bicoronatus, O. p. f. tricoronatus, and O. p. f. quadricoronatus). Three species of Isotrichidae were observed, Isotricha intestinalis, I. prostoma, and Dasytricha ruminantium. This study reports new host records for three forms of Epidinium graini and Ophryoscolex purkynjei f. bifidobicinctus. The rumen fauna in the family Ophryoscolecidae from Cypriote domestic sheep appear to have limited diversity compared to those from Turkish and Far Eastern (Chinese/Japanese) sheep, while they are more diverse than those found in Western European (Scottish) and North American (Canadian/Alaskan) sheep. [source]