Dry matter and digesta particle size gradients along the goat digestive tract on grass and browse diets

Clauss, Marcus; Fritz, Julia; Tschuor, A; Braun, Ueli; Hummel, Jürgen; Codron, Daryl

doi:10.1111/jpn.12505

Cited by 16 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 50 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Mean particle size (in mm) in different forestomach compartments in (a) goats fed grass hay (from Clauss et al, ) and (b) the llamas ( Lama glama ) of the present study. Graphic based on Lechner‐Doll et al ().…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 66%

“…Literature data for dromedaries (Lechner‐Doll & von Engelhardt, ) and for domestic goats and cattle (Clauss et al, ; Lechner‐Doll & von Engelhardt, ) were used for comparison with the llama results.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For this function, the reticulum must be mainly filled with fluid, and the stratification of its contents by particle size is paralleled by a stratification in moisture content (measured as dry matter concentration), with drier contents in the dorsal and moister contents in the ventral area (Baumont & Deswysen, ). In “cattle‐type” ruminants, the stratification of contents can already be found in the rumen, where dorsal contents are drier with larger particles, and ventral contents contain more fluid and smaller particles (Clauss et al, , ; Hummel et al, ). The ventral contents of the reticulum, with small particles and a high moisture content, pass towards the lower digestive tract.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Physical characteristics of gastrointestinal content of llama (Lama glama)

Idalan

Martin

Clauss

2019

Animal Physiology Nutrition

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Changes in digesta dry matter (DM) and mean digesta particle size (MPS) along the gastrointestinal tract are well known in ruminants, but not in camelids. We collected digesta from the dorsal (d) and ventral (v) first forestomach compartment (C1), the second forestomach compartment (C2), three proximal segments and the subsequent glandular part of the third compartment (C3A‐D), the caecum and the faeces twelve llamas (Lama glama). DM analysis indicates the presence of digesta stratification in the C1, the presence of fluid in the C2 to facilitate the sorting function of this compartment, the fluid‐absorbing function of the proximal parts of the C3, the secretion of enzymes and digestive acids in the C3D, and the water‐resorbing function of the lower intestinal tract. These findings illustrate the functional resemblance between the gastrointestinal tract of camelids and cattle‐like ruminants (C1 equivalent to the rumen with stratified contents, C2 to the reticulum, C3A/B/C to the omasum and C3D to the abomasum). MPS analysis revealed a progressive reduction in MPS from the C1 to the distal C3. This gradual transition is different from the clear‐cut threshold in ruminants between the reticulum and the omasum and had so far only been described in dromedaries (Camelus dromedarius). These findings indicate that regardless of the convergent property of rumination and resemblance of general mechanisms involved in contents stratification and particle sorting, differences between ruminants and camelids exist that could be interpreted as a more efficient functionality of the ruminant forestomach.

show abstract

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 66%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Physical characteristics of gastrointestinal content of llama (Lama glama)

Idalan

Martin

Clauss

2019

Animal Physiology Nutrition

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In taxonomic ruminants, the particle sorting mechanism is based on a flotation-sedimentation mechanism in the reticulum (Sutherland, 1988;Baumont and Deswysen, 1991), for which a high moisture content is an important prerogative (Clauss et al, 2009b;Hummel et al, 2009;Clauss et al, 2017). The sorting mechanism automatically leads to the outflow of the fluid from the reticulum together with small particles.…”

Section: Basic Ruminant Digestive Physiologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Physiological adaptations of ruminants and their potential relevance for production systems

Clauss

Hummel

2017

R. Bras. Zootec.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

-Herbivores face the dilemma that the level of feed intake is negatively related to factors that determine digestive efficiency, such as thoroughness of ingesta comminution by chewing, and retention of digesta in the digestive tract. Ruminants have evolved particular adaptations to solve this dilemma. Most ruminants share the characteristic of "digesta washing": fluid moves through their digestive tract faster than particles, thus effectively washing very fine particles, such as bacteria, out of the digesta plug. As the forestomach is followed by auto-enzymatic digestion, this allows a continuous, increased harvest of microbes from the forestomach. True rumination only evolved twice, in the camelids and the true ruminants. These both evolved a density-dependent sorting mechanism based on physical separation of the digesta by the process of flotation and sedimentation, ensuring that the process of rumination is applied to large particles. Differences in this sorting mechanism might facilitate a faster digesta processing in true ruminants as compared with camelids. The hallmark of ruminant digestive anatomy is the omasum, in which the fluid required for both digesta washing and the reticular separation mechanism is re-absorbed. In ruminants of the tribe Bovini, the omasum has reached the largest size and this group has a particularly great forestomach fluid throughput. Increasing the degree of digesta washing even more should increase microbial harvest from the forestomach and reduce the susceptibility to acidosis. At the same time, it should result in a metabolic state of the microbiome more tuned towards biomass production and less towards methanogenesis. Enhancing the forestomach fluid throughput by selective breeding could represent a promising way to further advance the productivity of the ruminant digestive tract.

show abstract

“…Mechanisms for the selective retention or expulsion of certain particle size fractions are an important feature of the digestive physiology of many herbivores. Sieve analyses of gut contents typically reveal selective retention mechanisms for large particles in the forestomach of functional ruminants (i.e., taxonomic ruminants and camelids) (Clauss et al., ; Lechner‐Doll & von Engelhardt, ), and selective retention mechanisms for small particles in the caecum of small hindgut fermenters (Björnhag, ; Lanyon & Sanson, ; Vispo & Hume, ). The relevance of such mechanisms lies in the fact that, due to surface–volume relationships, larger particles are digested at a slower rate than smaller particles (Bjorndal, Bolten, & Moore, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparative selective retention of particle size classes in the gastrointestinal tract of ponies and goats

Hummel

Scheurich

Ortmann

et al. 2017

Animal Physiology Nutrition

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

There is a discrepancy in the literature on potential digesta separation mechanisms in horses, with both a selective retention of fine and of large particles postulated in different publications. To assess the net effect of such mechanisms, we fed ponies on a hay-only diet a pulse dose of whole (unchopped) marked hay together with a solute marker, collected faeces on a regular basis, measured marker concentrations in whole faeces and in their large (2.0-16 mm), medium (0.5-1.0 mm) and small (0.063-0.25 mm) particle fraction, and calculated the corresponding mean retention times (MRTs). For comparison, the same experiment was performed in goats. In goats, as expected, MRT (35 hr) was significantly shorter than MRT (51 hr); only a very small fraction of particle marker was excreted as large particles (2%); and the MRT of these large particles was significantly shorter than that of small particles (with a relevant difference of 8.6 hr), indicating that those few large particles that escape the rumen do so mostly soon after ingestion. In ponies, MRT (24 hr) did not differ from MRT (24 hr); a higher fraction of particle marker was excreted as large particles (5%); and the MRT of these large particles was longer than that of small particles (but with a non-relevant difference of less than 1 hr). These results indicate that no relevant net separation of digesta phases occurs in horses and that selective particle retention mechanisms in the large intestine are unlikely to represent important characteristics of the horse's digestive physiology.

show abstract

Dry matter and digesta particle size gradients along the goat digestive tract on grass and browse diets

Cited by 16 publications

References 50 publications

Physical characteristics of gastrointestinal content of llama (Lama glama)

Physical characteristics of gastrointestinal content of llama (Lama glama)

Physiological adaptations of ruminants and their potential relevance for production systems

Comparative selective retention of particle size classes in the gastrointestinal tract of ponies and goats

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About