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What is the job of the second wall of the stomach of a cow?
What is the job of the second wall of the stomach of a cow?
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they have one stomach that is divided into four chambers: i think your question is about rumen (second chamber)
- Reticulum: the “hardware stomach”, where foreign objects collect that cannot pass through the digestive system; this compartment is also responsible for further breakdown processes from the rumen, and is the compartment where partly digested feed is collected to be regurgitated as cud. It is considered the second compartment for ruminant animals
- Rumen: Technically the “first” and most largest compartment of a ruminant. Cows can have 50 to 60 gallons of digesta in this compartment. This is where where bacteria, fungi and protozoa actively break down fibrous plant material (mainly plant cell walls) releasing nutrients usable to both them and the ruminant animal. The environment is anaerobic (without oxygen), so as the microbes are breaking down plant material, they are also giving off gases that are released by the animal via “eructation” (burping). Because there is a lack of oxygen in this system, the way plant material is broken down is called “fermentation.” (So actually it’s not the rumen itself that is doing the job, even though smooth-muscle contractions mix the gas, liquid and solid components of what has been broken down, but rather the millions of microbes that live in this part of the ruminant stomach.)
- Omasum: Absorbs water and digestible nutrients thanks to a chamber with many-folding leaves of skin to increase surface area. A higher surface area increases the amount of liquid absorbed back into the animal. The omasum is the third stomach chamber.
- Abomasum: This is the “true stomach” of the ruminant, and functions in a very similar manner to us humans. The pH level is higher or less acidic because ruminants are herbivores and not omnivores or carnivores where a more acidic level is needed for digestion of meat, but the digestive properties are the same: To further break down and absorb nutrients, primarily as proteins from fermentated plant sources and dead or escaped microbes from the rumen
they have one stomach that is divided into four chambers: i think your question is about rumen (second chamber)
- Reticulum: the “hardware stomach”, where foreign objects collect that cannot pass through the digestive system; this compartment is also responsible for further breakdown processes from the rumen, and is the compartment where partly digested feed is collected to be regurgitated as cud. It is considered the second compartment for ruminant animals
- Rumen: Technically the “first” and most largest compartment of a ruminant. Cows can have 50 to 60 gallons of digesta in this compartment. This is where where bacteria, fungi and protozoa actively break down fibrous plant material (mainly plant cell walls) releasing nutrients usable to both them and the ruminant animal. The environment is anaerobic (without oxygen), so as the microbes are breaking down plant material, they are also giving off gases that are released by the animal via “eructation” (burping). Because there is a lack of oxygen in this system, the way plant material is broken down is called “fermentation.” (So actually it’s not the rumen itself that is doing the job, even though smooth-muscle contractions mix the gas, liquid and solid components of what has been broken down, but rather the millions of microbes that live in this part of the ruminant stomach.)
- Omasum: Absorbs water and digestible nutrients thanks to a chamber with many-folding leaves of skin to increase surface area. A higher surface area increases the amount of liquid absorbed back into the animal. The omasum is the third stomach chamber.
- Abomasum: This is the “true stomach” of the ruminant, and functions in a very similar manner to us humans. The pH level is higher or less acidic because ruminants are herbivores and not omnivores or carnivores where a more acidic level is needed for digestion of meat, but the digestive properties are the same: To further break down and absorb nutrients, primarily as proteins from fermentated plant sources and dead or escaped microbes from the rumen
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