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Clauss M, Tschuor A, Codron D, Hummel J. Reticular contraction frequency and ruminal gas dome development in goats do not differ between grass and browse diets. J Anim Physiol Anim Nutr (Berl) 2022; 106:1208-1215. [PMID: 34791696 PMCID: PMC9788097 DOI: 10.1111/jpn.13663] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/06/2021] [Revised: 09/24/2021] [Accepted: 10/30/2021] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
In investigations of differences between ruminant species feeding on browse or grass, it is often unclear whether observed differences are animal- or forage-specific. Ruminant species have been classified as 'moose-type', with little rumen content stratification, or 'cattle-type' with a distinct rumen contents stratification, including a gas layer. To which extent putative differences in forestomach motility are involved in these patterns is unknown. Using sonography, we investigated the frequency of reticular contractions and the stratification of rumen contents in goats fed exclusively on grass hay (n = 6) or dried browse (n = 5) directly after feeding, and after another 6 and 12 h with no access to feed. The frequency of reticular contractions decreased from immediately after feeding (1.8 ± 0.3 min-1 ) to 6 h afterwards (1.2 ± 0.2 min-1 ) and then remained constant, with no difference between diets. A gas dome became more visible over time, but neither its incidence nor its extent differed between diets. The results are in accord with classifying goats as 'cattle-type' in terms of their digestive physiology, and they add to a growing body of evidence that differences in digestive physiology between ruminant species are more due to species characteristics than different kinds of ingested forages.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marcus Clauss
- Clinic for Zoo Animals, Exotic Pets and WildlifeVetsuisse FacultyUniversity of ZurichZurichSwitzerland
| | - Andreas Tschuor
- Clinic for RuminantsVetsuisse FacultyUniversity of ZurichZurichSwitzerland,Present address:
Buhnstrasse 3Zürich8052Switzerland
| | - Daryl Codron
- Department of Zoology and EntomologyUniversity of the Free StateBloemfonteinSouth Africa
| | - Jürgen Hummel
- Department of Animal SciencesUniversity GoettingenGöttingenGermany
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Przybyło M, Ortmann S, Świerk S, Clauss M. Fluid and particle retention in the greater kudu
(<i>Tragelaphus strepsiceros</i>). JOURNAL OF ANIMAL AND FEED SCIENCES 2022. [DOI: 10.22358/jafs/145755/2022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
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Hertaeg J, Sauer C, Bertelsen MF, Hammer S, Lund P, Weisbjerg MR, Clauss M. Physical characteristics of forestomach contents from two nondomestic small ruminants, the blackbuck (Antilope cervicapra) and the Arabian sand gazelle (Gazella subgutturosa marica). Comp Biochem Physiol A Mol Integr Physiol 2021; 257:110941. [PMID: 33794366 DOI: 10.1016/j.cbpa.2021.110941] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/07/2021] [Revised: 03/25/2021] [Accepted: 03/26/2021] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Rumen content stratification and the degree of dissociation of particle and fluid retention in the reticulorumen differ between 'moose-type' and 'cattle-type' ruminant species. These differences are not strictly linked to diet, except for a seeming limitation of 'moose-type' ruminants to a browsing niche. Nevertheless, these differences can be plausibly linked to other observed differences in ruminants, such as the intraruminal papillation pattern, or the size of the omasum. However, many of the corresponding measures are still only available for a restricted number of species. Here, we investigated the dry matter (i.e., the inverse of the moisture) concentration in forestomach contents of 10 blackbuck (Antilope cervicapra) and 7 Arabian sand gazelle (Gazella subgutturosa marica), and quantified the rumen papillation pattern. The blackbucks had distinct rumen contents stratification, with more moisture in ventral than in dorsal contents (difference 3.6% units, P < 0.001), whereas this difference was much less pronounced in the sand gazelles (0.6% units, P = 0.227). While reticulum contents were particularly moist in both species, omasum contents were particularly dry in sand gazelles, but did not differ in moisture from rumen contents in the blackbuck. This species is an outlier among ruminants due to its extremely small omasum. The intraruminal papillation pattern did not differ between blackbucks and sand gazelles and showed a surface enlargement factor (SEF) in the dorsal rumen of 27-28% of the SEF in the Atrium ruminis. Compared to data on digesta retention in the same species, the findings are in line with the overall concept of a high fluid throughput causing a distinct stratification of rumen contents and intraruminal papillation, and necessitating a large omasum for fluid re-absorption. However, the data also show that individual species may not correspond to all the assumptions of the concept, suggesting taxon-specific differences between species. Reasons for these differences cannot be linked to a dietary grass-browse spectrum, but may lie in evolutionary contingency.
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Affiliation(s)
- Janine Hertaeg
- Clinic for Zoo Animals, Exotic Pets and Wildlife, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstr. 260, CH-8057 Zurich, Switzerland.
| | - Cathrine Sauer
- Department of Animal Science, Aarhus University, AU Foulum, Blichers Allé 20, PO Box 50, DK-8830 Tjele, Denmark; Center for Zoo and Wild Animal Health, Copenhagen Zoo, Roskildevej 32, DK-2000 Frederiksberg, Denmark.
| | - Mads F Bertelsen
- Center for Zoo and Wild Animal Health, Copenhagen Zoo, Roskildevej 32, DK-2000 Frederiksberg, Denmark.
| | - Sven Hammer
- Naturschutz-Tierpark Görlitz, Zittauerstr. 43, D-02826 Görlitz, Germany.
| | - Peter Lund
- Department of Animal Science, Aarhus University, AU Foulum, Blichers Allé 20, PO Box 50, DK-8830 Tjele, Denmark.
| | - Martin R Weisbjerg
- Department of Animal Science, Aarhus University, AU Foulum, Blichers Allé 20, PO Box 50, DK-8830 Tjele, Denmark.
| | - Marcus Clauss
- Clinic for Zoo Animals, Exotic Pets and Wildlife, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstr. 260, CH-8057 Zurich, Switzerland.
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Kebede B, Van De Wiel K, Derix J, Tolemariam T, Dermauw V, Lourenço M, Paul Jules Janssens G. Copper, iron, zinc and tannin concentrations throughout the digestive tract of tropical goats and sheep fed a high-fibre tannin-rich diet. J Anim Physiol Anim Nutr (Berl) 2021; 105:841-848. [PMID: 33751698 DOI: 10.1111/jpn.13518] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/23/2020] [Revised: 01/13/2021] [Accepted: 02/08/2021] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
The dry season in tropical regions urges livestock to feed on nutritionally very poor diets. It has not been explored how tropical sheep-assumed grazers-and tropical goats-intermediate browsers-cope with a high-fibre tannin-rich diet. This study was designed to determine the effects of a high-fibre and tannin-rich diet on the flow of important microminerals iron (Fe), zinc (Zn) and copper (Cu) throughout the digestive tract of tropical sheep and goats. The feeding trial was set up with twelve adult male animals, six sheep with mean body weight (BW) of 30.3 ± 1.6 kg and six goats with mean BW of 26.4 ± 2.2 kg. The feed consisted of 36% leaves of Millettia ferruginea, 61% hay and 3% concentrate and was offered at 3% of BW (all on dry matter (DM) basis). The total faecal collection was carried out for 7 consecutive days. At the end of the experimental period, the animals were slaughtered to collect liver and digesta samples from the gastrointestinal tract. Feed, digesta and faecal samples underwent analysis of Fe, Zn, and Cu and total tannins (TT). Goats had significantly higher reticulum Cu concentrations expressed on DM as compared to sheep. Faecal Cu concentrations were higher for goats compared to sheep. Reticulum and colon digesta Zn levels were higher in goats than sheep. Abomasum and colon Fe levels were higher in sheep than goats when expressed on DM. These results suggest differences in feed intake, micromineral absorption, secretion and excretion between sheep and goats, pointing to a divergent mineral metabolism as an adaptation to the challenge of a dry season diet having very low nutritive value.
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Affiliation(s)
- Biruk Kebede
- Department of Animal Science, Jimma University, Jimma, Ethiopia.,Department of Nutrition, Genetics, and Ethology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Merelbeke, Belgium
| | - Kim Van De Wiel
- Institute of Integrative Biology Department of Evolution, Ecology and Behaviour, University of Liverpool, Neston, UK
| | - Jill Derix
- Department of Pathology, Bacteriology and Avian Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Merelbeke, Belgium
| | - Taye Tolemariam
- Department of Animal Science, Jimma University, Jimma, Ethiopia
| | - Veronique Dermauw
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerpen, Belgium
| | - Marta Lourenço
- Institute for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Research, Animal Sciences Unit, Poultry Nutrition, and Management, Melle, Belgium
| | - Geert Paul Jules Janssens
- Department of Nutrition, Genetics, and Ethology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Merelbeke, Belgium
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Hejcmanová P, Ortmann S, Stoklasová L, Clauss M. Digesta passage in common eland (Taurotragus oryx) on a monocot or a dicot diet. Comp Biochem Physiol A Mol Integr Physiol 2020; 246:110720. [PMID: 32387134 DOI: 10.1016/j.cbpa.2020.110720] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/26/2020] [Revised: 04/29/2020] [Accepted: 04/30/2020] [Indexed: 01/03/2023]
Abstract
The way that fluids and particles move through the forestomach of a ruminant is species-specific, and can be used to classify ruminants according to their digestive physiology into 'moose-types' (with little difference in fluid and small particle passage) and 'cattle-types' (where fluids move through the forestomach much faster than small particles). So far, 'moose-types' appear limited to a dietary niche of browsing, whereas 'cattle-types' are particularly prominent in the intermediate and grazing diet niches. However, some species, including members of the spiral-horned antelopes (the Tragelaphini), have a 'cattle-type' physiology but a browse-dominated diet niche. Eland (Taurotragus oryx), the largest member of the Tragelaphini, are strict browsers in the wild but have been considered intermediate feeders in the past, and can seemingly be maintained on grass diets. We quantified food intake, mean retention time (MRT) in the gastrointestinal tract and the reticulorumen (RR) of a solute, a small and a large particle marker, and diet digestibility in six eland each fed a monocot (grass hay) and a dicot (lucerne silage) forage. Food intake and digestibility was lower on the diet with higher fibre content (grass hay), with corresponding longer MRT. At the higher intakes on lucerne, the difference in MRT between small and large particles was larger, indicating a greater reliance on particle sorting and clearance under this condition of potentially limiting gut capacity. Regardless of diet or intake, the ratio of small particle and solute MRT in the RR was constant and small, at a quotient of 1.54, classifying the eland as a typical 'moose-type' ruminant. This finding is consistent with previous literature reports on low faecal metabolic nitrogen and high apparent protein digestibility in eland. Given the relative ease at which eland can be maintained under farm husbandry conditions, they appear ideal model ruminants to study the effects of differences in rumen physiology compared to cattle.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pavla Hejcmanová
- Faculty of Tropical AgriSciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamýcká 129, 165 00 Prague 6 - Suchdol, Czech Republic.
| | - Sylvia Ortmann
- Leibniz-Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW) Berlin, Alfred-Kowalke-Str. 17, 10315 Berlin, Germany.
| | - Lucie Stoklasová
- Faculty of Tropical AgriSciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamýcká 129, 165 00 Prague 6 - Suchdol, Czech Republic.
| | - Marcus Clauss
- Clinic for Zoo Animals, Exotic Pets and Wildlife, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstr. 260, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland.
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7
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Przybyło M, Hummel J, Ortmann S, Codron D, Kohlschein GM, Kilga D, Smithyman J, Przybyło U, Świerk S, Hammer S, Hatt JM, Górka P, Clauss M. Digesta passage in nondomestic ruminants: Separation mechanisms in 'moose-type' and 'cattle-type' species, and seemingly atypical browsers. Comp Biochem Physiol A Mol Integr Physiol 2019; 235:180-192. [PMID: 31220621 DOI: 10.1016/j.cbpa.2019.06.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2019] [Revised: 06/08/2019] [Accepted: 06/10/2019] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Abstract
Ruminants have been classified as having a 'moose-type' or 'cattle-type' digestive physiology. 'Cattle-type' ruminants have a clear difference in the mean retention time (MRT) of fluid vs. small particles in the reticulorumen (RR), with a high 'selectivity factor' (SF = MRTparticle/ MRTfluid, >1.80), and are typically grazers and intermediate feeders. 'Moose-type' ruminants have lower SF (<1.80), possibly because of defensive salivary proteins that constrain amounts of (high-viscosity) saliva, and are typically restricted to browsing. To further contribute to testing this physiology-diet correlation, we performed 55 individual passage measurements in 4/6 species that have/have not been investigated previously, respectively. Co-EDTA was used as a solute (fluid) and Cr-mordanted hay particles (<2 mm) as particle markers. Results are related to the percentage of grass in the natural diet taken from the literature. Moose (Alces alces, n = 4 on 4 to 5 diets each and n = 2 on a single diet, 5% grass, SF 1.46 ± 0.22) and giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis, n = 3 on 3 to 5 diets each, 1%, 1.42 ± 0.23) as classical 'moose-type', and cattle (Bos taurus, n = 2, 70%, 2.04) as classical 'cattle-type' ruminants yielded results similar to those previously published, as did waterbuck (Kobus ellipsiprymnus, n = 5, 84%, 2.46 ± 0.49), corroborating that the SF represents, to a large extent, a species-specific characteristic. Results in oryx (Oryx leucoryx, n = 1, 75%, 2.60) and sitatunga (Tragelaphus spekii, n = 4, 68%, 1.81 ± 0.21) correspond to the concept of 'cattle-type' ruminants being grazers or intermediate feeders. However, European bison (Bison bonasus, n = 1, 10%, 2.74), nyala (T. angasii, n = 6, 20%, 1.95 ± 0.25), bongo (T. eurycerus, n = 3, 13%, 2.39 ± 0.54) and gerenuk (Litocranius walleri, n = 1, 0%, 2.25) appear as 'cattle-type' ruminants, yet have a browse-dominated diet. While the results do not challenge the view that a 'moose-type' digestive physiology is an adaptation to browse diets, they indicate that it may not be the only adaptation that enables ruminants to use browse. Apparently, a 'cattle-type' digestive physiology with a high SF does not necessarily preclude a browsing diet niche. High-SF browsers might have the benefit of an increased harvest of RR microbiota and grit removal prior to rumination; how they defend themselves against secondary plant compounds in browse remains to be investigated.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marcin Przybyło
- Department of Animal Nutrition and Dietetics, University of Agriculture in Krakow, al. Mickiewicza 24/28, 30-059 Krakow, Poland.
| | - Jürgen Hummel
- Department of Animal Sciences, Ruminant Nutrition, University of Goettingen, Kellnerweg 6, 37077 Goettingen, Germany.
| | - Sylvia Ortmann
- Leibniz-Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW) Berlin, Alfred-Kowalke-Str. 17, 10315 Berlin, Germany.
| | - Daryl Codron
- Department of Zoology and Entomology, University of the Free State, PO Box 339, Bloemfontein 9300, South Africa.
| | - Gina-Marie Kohlschein
- Clinic for Zoo Animals, Exotic Pets and Wildlife, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstr. 260, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland; Bräuhausweg 7, 82335 Berg, Germany
| | - Daniela Kilga
- Clinic for Zoo Animals, Exotic Pets and Wildlife, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstr. 260, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland; Albrechtstrasse 11, 8406 Winterthur, Switzerland
| | - Juliet Smithyman
- Department of Zoology and Entomology, University of the Free State, PO Box 339, Bloemfontein 9300, South Africa; Pittwater Animal Hospital, 1 Arnott Crescent, Warriewood, NSW 2101, Australia
| | - Urszula Przybyło
- Department of Animal Nutrition and Dietetics, University of Agriculture in Krakow, al. Mickiewicza 24/28, 30-059 Krakow, Poland
| | - Samanta Świerk
- Department of Animal Nutrition and Dietetics, University of Agriculture in Krakow, al. Mickiewicza 24/28, 30-059 Krakow, Poland
| | - Sven Hammer
- Al Wabra Wildlife Preservation, Doha, State of Qatar, Qatar; Naturschutz-Tierpark Görlitz, Zittauerstr. 43, 02826 Görlitz, Germany.
| | - Jean-Michel Hatt
- Clinic for Zoo Animals, Exotic Pets and Wildlife, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstr. 260, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland.
| | - Paweł Górka
- Department of Animal Nutrition and Dietetics, University of Agriculture in Krakow, al. Mickiewicza 24/28, 30-059 Krakow, Poland.
| | - Marcus Clauss
- Clinic for Zoo Animals, Exotic Pets and Wildlife, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstr. 260, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland.
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Idalan N, Martin LF, Clauss M. Physical characteristics of gastrointestinal content of llama (Lama glama). J Anim Physiol Anim Nutr (Berl) 2019; 103:1015-1022. [PMID: 31050031 DOI: 10.1111/jpn.13116] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/06/2018] [Revised: 03/07/2019] [Accepted: 04/09/2019] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
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.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nadine Idalan
- Clinic for Zoo Animals, Exotic Pets and Wildlife, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Louise F Martin
- Clinic for Zoo Animals, Exotic Pets and Wildlife, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Marcus Clauss
- Clinic for Zoo Animals, Exotic Pets and Wildlife, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
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Gussek I, Große-Brinkhaus C, Südekum KH, Hummel J. Influence of ration composition on nutritive and digestive variables in captive giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis) indicating the appropriateness of feeding practice. J Anim Physiol Anim Nutr (Berl) 2017; 102:e513-e524. [DOI: 10.1111/jpn.12790] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/11/2017] [Accepted: 06/27/2017] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- I. Gussek
- Institute of Animal Science; University of Bonn; Bonn Germany
| | | | - K.-H. Südekum
- Institute of Animal Science; University of Bonn; Bonn Germany
| | - J. Hummel
- Department of Animal Sciences; University of Göttingen; Göttingen Germany
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