What is special about a ruminant stomach?how does it help the animal digest vegetable matter
Answers
Like other vertebrates, ruminant Artiodactyla (including cattle, deer, and their relatives) are unable to digest plant material directly, because they lack enzymes to break down cellulose in the cell walls. Digestion in ruminants occurs sequentially in a four-chambered stomach. Plant material is initially taken into the Rumen, where it is processed mechanically and exposed to bacteria than can break down cellulose (foregut fermentation). The Reticulum allows the animal to regurgitate & reprocess particulate matter ("chew its cud"). More finely-divided food is then passed to the Omasum, for further mechanical processing. The mass is finally passed to the true stomach, the Abomassum, where the digestive enzyme lysozyme breaks down the bacteria so as to release nutrients. Use of plant material is thus indirect, with primary processing by the bacterial flora maintained in the stomach.
The ruminant stomach is a multi-chambered organ found in ruminants (see picture at right). It is usually composed of four separate chambers and allows digestion of large quantities of plant matter that would be relatively indigestible for most other types of mammals, in particular grass and the leaves.