Ruminants

and Biology
rodents
Form 4 :Nutrition
Azneezal Ar-Rashid
 Today lesson
1. Digestive system in ruminants
2. Digestive system in rodents
3. Similiarities & differences of humans,
ruminants & rodents
4. Problems related food digestion
5. Absorbtion & assimilation of digested
food
6. Defecation
7. Eating habits
8. The importance of healthy digestive
system
 Digestion system in ruminants
• Ruminants are group of herbivorous mammals
– Cows, goats, & camels
• Have UNUSUAL eating habit
• Why unusual?
– Ruminants chew their food, swallow, and after some time
regurgitate (throw up) the food from their stomach. The
food is chewed for a second time and then swallowed
again
• Have four-chambered stomach
 Digestion system in ruminants
• Have four-chambered stomach
– Rumen, reticulum, omasum & abomasum
• Being herbivores, ruminants eat plant matter.
Plant matter contains a lot of cellulose
• Cellulose can be digested into glucose by
cellulase enzyme. However, cellulase is not
produce by ruminnts themselves
• There are microorganisms such as bacteria &
protozoa which produce cellulase in the
ruminants digestive system (rumen)
 The process
• After grinding up grass in the oral cavity, the
grass is swallowed into the rumen.
• In the rumen, cellulose in the grass is acted
upon by microorganisms and broken down
into glucose
• Food then enters the reticulum where the
digestion of cellulose continues
• Food is then regurgitated into the oral cavity to
be ground again.
 The process
• When reswallowed, food enters the
omasum. Here the product of digestion of
cellulose is absorb
• Next, food enters abomasum.
• Abomasum is the true stomach in the
sense that it produces gastric juice.
• Digestion of other nutriens such as
protiens accurs here
 Today lesson
1. Digestive system in ruminants √
2. Digestive system in rodents
3. Similiarities & differences of humans,
ruminants & rodents
4. Problems related food digestion
5. Absorbtion & assimilation of digested
food
6. Defecation
7. Eating habits
8. The importance of healthy digestive
system
 Digestive system in
rodents
• Rodents refer to a group of mammals that comprise
rabbits, rats, hamsters & squirrels
• Rodents have pair of long incisors, in each of upper
and lower jaw
• Most rodents are herbivores
• In rodents, digestion of cellulose occurs in the
caecum
• Caecum is the first part of large intestine. There are
many bacteria and protozoa in the ceacum which
can secrete cellulase to digest cellulose.
• Rodents have a big and well-developed caecum.
 Today lesson
1. Digestive system in ruminants √
2. Digestive system in rodents √
3. Similiarities & differences of humans,
ruminants & rodents
4. Problems related food digestion
5. Absorbtion & assimilation of digested
food
6. Defecation
7. Eating habits
8. The importance of healthy digestive
system
 Similiarities & differences of
humans, ruminants & rodents
Similiarities
- All of them have a digestive system which
includes stomach, small intestine & large
intestine
- All of the consume plant matter
- All of them are able to digest starch, protiens &
fats
- All of them have long small intestine
 Differences of
humans, ruminants & rodents
Humans Ruminants Rodents
Omnivores Herbivores Mostly herbivores

Single stomach Stomach of four Single stomach

chamber chamber chamber
Caecum about the Caecum about the Big and well
same size as the othersame size as the otherdeveloped caecum
part of colon part of colon
Bacteria present Bacteria and protozoa Bacteria and protozoa
throughout the large present in the present in the caecum
intestine stomach
Unable to digest Able to digest Able to digest
cellulose cellulose cellulose

Do not regurgitate Regurgitate food Do not regurgitate

food food
 Today lesson
1. Digestive system in ruminants √
2. Digestive system in rodents √
3. Similiarities & differences of humans,
ruminants & rodents
4. Problems related food digestion
5. Absorbtion & assimilation of digested
food
6. Defecation
7. Eating habits
8. Healthy eating habits
Problems related to food digestion
• Incomplete digestion of food
• Bile stones preventing the flow of bile
• Reduced production of specific digestive
enzymes
 Today lesson
1. Digestive system in ruminants √
2. Digestive system in rodents √
3. Similiarities & differences of humans, ruminants &
rodents √
4. Problems related food digestion
5. Absorption & assimilation of digested food
6. Defecation
7. Eating habits
8. The importance of healthy digestive system
 Absorption & assimilation of
digested food
• The small intestine has the following
adaptations to increase the surface area
for absorption food:
– Very long ( 6m in length)
– There are folds in the small intestine
– Entire inner surface has finger-like projections
called villi (singular villus)
– On the epithelium of each villi, there are fine
rojections called microvilli
 Absorption & assimilation of
digested food
• Each villus contains a network of blood capillaries
• In the middle of the vilus there is a lacteal which
appears milky. The lacteal is continuous with
lymphatic vessels
• The absorption occurs by diffusion initially, and
then by active transport
• Simple sugars, amino acids, mineral salts, water
soluble vitamins (Vit B and C) and 95% of water
are absorped into the blood capilaries
• Blood cappilaries from all villi join up to form hepatic
portal vein
• The hepatic portal vein carries blood containing digested
food to the liver
• Fatty acid & glycerol diffuse into the epithelial cells of
villus. In the epithelial cells, fatty acids combine with
glycerol to form fat droplets that give the lacteal a milky
appearance
• Fat-soluble vitamins (Vit A,D,E,K) are also absorbed into
the lacteal.
• The fat droplets are transported out from
the lacteal by lymphatic ducts. These
lymphatic ducts finally open into the left
subclavia vein in the region between the
neck and the shoulder
 Assimilation of digested food
• Assimilitaion = the process of incorporating
digested food into our body cells & tissues, so
that they become part of body tissues. An
example is the building of cytoplasm by using
amino acids from the digestion of protiens
• If a person has eating an excessive amount of
carbohydrates, the excess glucose is produced
from digestion will be converted by liver cells into
glycogen. Glycogen is the stored in the liver
cells. It has now become a part of the liver cells.
• The liver also uses the aino acids that arrive
there to synthesise enzymes and plasma
proteins. Two example of plasma proteins are
prothrombin and fibrinogen. Both of them are
needed for the clotting of blood at wounds
• Besides functioning in assimilation, liver also
functions in detoxification, for example breaking
down toxic substances and poisons in food
• Excess amino acid are toxic and cannot be stored
in the body. Because of that, the liver converts
excess amino acids into urea.
• Urea is then transported by blood to the kidneys to
be excreted through urine
• Poisons and drugs such as alcohol are broken
down by the liver and the products excreted
through urine
• Excess fats are built into fatty tissue and are
stored under the skin abd around the organs.
 Assimilation of water and minerals
in the colon
• 95 % of water is absorbed in the small
intestine
• The colon (the main part of the large
intestine) will absorb most of the remaining
water
• Most of minerals are actively absorbed in
the small intestine except for sodium and
chlorine. These minerals are absobed in the
large intestine.
 Today lesson
1. Digestive system in ruminants √
2. Digestive system in rodents √
3. Similiarities & differences of humans, ruminants &
rodents √
4. Problems related food digestion
5. Absorption & assimilation of digested food
6. Defecation
7. Eating habits
8. The importance of healthy digestive system
 Defaecation
• Undigested food that consist of mainly fibres
and excretory products, such as bile pigments,
dead cells and dead bacteria is not absorbed in
the small intestine. It is channeled to the large
intestine by peristalsis
• In the colon, absorption of water occurs. As a
result of water absorption, undigested food
residues harden to become faeces. Faeces is
stored in the rectum tompararily.
• When the rectum is full, its muscular wall will
contract to excrete the faeces through anus. This
process called defeaction
• There are some friendly bacteria that live in our
colon. These bacteria can act on undigested food
residues to produce vitamins B12 and K. These
vitamins are absorbed into the blood for use by
body cells.
• Some bacteria such as Salmonella can
disturb the normal function of the colon,
causing the diarrhoea.
• Consuming antibiotics can kill the bad
bacteria in the colon. However the friendly
bacteria are also killed. Vitamin B12 and K
cannot be produced. Hence we need to
consume natural sources of both vitamins.
 Today lesson
1. Digestive system in ruminants √
2. Digestive system in rodents √
3. Similiarities & differences of humans, ruminants &
rodents √
4. Problems related food digestion
5. Absorption & assimilation of digested food
6. Defecation
7. Eating habits
8. The importance of healthy digestive system
 Eating habits
• Gastritis
– Inflammation of the lining of stomach
• Obesity
– Weight exceeds the right weight 20 % or more
• Anorexia nervosa
– Obsessed maintaing slim figure
– Adolescent female (emotional disturbance)
• Bulimia
– Eating disorder
– Binge-purge syndrome
– Eats excessively then feel guilty--vomit
 Today lesson
1. Digestive system in ruminants √
2. Digestive system in rodents √
3. Similiarities & differences of humans, ruminants &
rodents √
4. Problems related food digestion
5. Absorption & assimilation of digested food
6. Defecation
7. Eating habits
8. The importance of healthy digestive system
 Healthy eating habits
• Eating balanced diets
• Eating at fixed time everyday
• Eating moderately
• Eating only nutritious food
• Avoiding snacks which are tasty but lacking in
nutrients
• Avoiding drinking much water just before, during
or after a meal. This is because water will dilute
the digestive juices and slow down digestion