SUBJECT AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES GRADE 12
TERM 1
TOPIC Digestion and absorption( digestion in ruminants)
AIM OF THE Learners should be able to do the following at the end of the lesson:
LESSON a brief explanation of the intake of feed
the process of digestion in the mouth, stomach, small intestine and large intestine (colon
{ mechanical digestion
{ chemical digestion (enzymes)
RESOURCES Hard Copy Soft Copy
Focus agricultural science grade 12 Via Africa Agricultural Science gra
12
INTRODUCTION The forestomach of the ruminant is designed to contain microbes and it provides them with a
storage vat (container) and a large amount of water.
DISCUSSION Intake of food and chewing of the cud
Cattle use their long, mobile, muscular tongues to grasp their food. This is made possible by the ro
surface of the tongue.
● The sharp, lower incisors help to cut the grass as it is pulled into the mouth.
● The food forms a loose mass, or bolus, in the mouth, but it is hardly chewed at all before it is m
by the tongue to the back of the throat and swallowed.
● It moves down the oesophagus by the process of peristalsis, and this process is assisted by the l
amount of saliva secreted into the mouth.
● The food then enters the forestomach where the grass is mixed with water and coated in
microorganisms by the contractions of the rumen.
● The honeycomb surface of the reticulum trap the coarse, long fibres of the grass and squeeze th
into a bolus, or lump.
● The bolus is moved up the oesophagus and into the mouth by reverse peristalsis.
● The food is then chewed again. Cows chew the cud, or ruminate, for up to eight hours each day
They make up to 40 000 chewing movements a day.
Differences in the digestive tract of mature and young ruminants
● The rumen, reticulum and omasum are all underdeveloped.
● The forestomach of the newborn ruminant is designed to digest milk initially.
● As the young ruminant grows older, it begins to graze and the forestomach also begins to devel
There is therefore a difference in size and functionality between young and mature (weaned)
ruminants.
ACTIVITIES