QUANTITATIVE ASPECTS OF RUMINANT DIGESTION AND METABOLISM Second Edition
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loginRuminant animals have evolved a capacious set of stomachs that harbour microorganisms capable of digesting fibrous materials, such as cellulose. This allows ruminants to eat and partly digest plants, such as grass, which have a
high fibre content and low nutritional value for simple-stomached animals. Thus, animals of the suborder Ruminantia, being plentiful and relatively easy to trap, became prime targets of hunters and, eventually, were domesticated
and farmed. Today, ruminants account for almost all of the milk and approximately one-third of the meat production worldwide (Food and Agriculture Organization, 2004) (Fig. 1.1). It is not surprising, then, that a great deal of research has been carried out on the digestive system of ruminants, leading to studies on the peculiarities of metabolism that cope with the unusual products of microbial digestion. The reading list at the end of this chapter gives some of
the books in which the biology of ruminants is reviewed. As qualitative knowledge increased, so it became possible to develop quantitative approaches to increase understanding further and to integrate various aspects. Initially this was achieved by more complex statistical analysis, but in recent years this has been supplemented by dynamic mathematical models that not only summarize existing data but also show where gaps in knowledge exist and where further research should be done. The purpose of this book is to bring together the quantitative approaches, concerned with elucidating mechanisms, used in the study of ruminant digestion, metabolism and related areas. In this introductory chapter, we describe briefly the special features of the ruminant and the potential for quantitative description of ruminant physiology to contribute to our understanding. We also indicate the chapters in which detailed consideration is given to each topic. This chapter is based firmly on Chapter 1 of the previous edition of this book (Forbes and France, 1993).
