DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MONO-GASTRIC AND RUMINANT ANIMAL DIGESTIVE SYSTEM
MONOGASTRIC
Possesses only one stomach 1. Possesses four stomach compartments
It cannot ruminate or chew the cud 2. It can ruminate and chew the cud
It cannot digest cellulose and fibres properly 3. It can digest cellulose and fibres very well
Digestion is not aided by bacteria 4. Digestion is aided by bacteria
Its diet is mainly basal and concentrate feeds 5. Its diet is mainly grasses and other cellulose e.g. legumes
It cannot synthesize its own proteins unless supplied in the feed
6It can synthesize its own protein through microbial activities in the rumen
It does not regurgitate 7. It regurgitates
It has no rumen
It has rumen
Poultry, rabbits and pigs are examples
Cattle, sheep and goats are examples.ruminant and monogastric animals
you can take a look at this quotation about ruminant and non-ruminant animals
Non-ruminants have the highest relative use of dietary energy when the diet contains a “low amount of NDF” (i.e., more or less 10-15% fibre). These diets will tend to be higher in fat and/or readily degradable carbohydrates such as starch which are highly digestible. Non-ruminants do not have the ability to handle large amounts of fibre in their diets and thus the energy obtained from the diet will decrease sharply as diet fibre (NDF) increases above 20%. Actually high-fiber diets have been recommended as a way to control obesity in humans.
In contrast, ruminants have the highest relative use of dietary energy when the diet contains a “high amount of NDF”. The “plateau” is however quite wide and ranges from 20 to about 55% before dropping sharply at “very higher” fibre diets. Ruminants have a greater fibre requirement than non-ruminant animals. At “very high” fibre levels, the ability to extract energy from the fibre is out-weighted by intake limitation (a set amount of fibre can be consumed per day) and the work involved in the processing of the fibre (chewing activity to reduce particle size). At a low NDF diet, ruminants are less efficient than non-ruminants because the loss of energy (in the form of methane) associated with the formation of volatile fatty acids in the rumen (in comparison to absorbing glucose as an end-product of carbohydrate degradation as in non-ruminants).
please scroll down for more on mono-gastric animals
What digestive adaptations do ruminants have that make them different from monogastric (non-ruminant) animals in the way that they extract and use energy from their feed?
Some of the digestive adaptations include a) cud chewing (i.e., rumination); b) pre-gastric fermentation of the feed in the rumen (in addition to gastric digestion; c) a large amount of saliva high in bicarbonate and phosphate buffers that neutralized acids produced in the rumen in order to provide a hospitable environment for microbial growth in the rumen; and d) A liver that has adapted to converting VFAs into a nutrient that can be used by the body tissue of the host. For example, propionic acid is converted to glucose in the liver by neoglucogenesis, which can be taken up by the mammary gland to synthesize lactose (milk sugar) while acetic and butyric acids serve as building blocks of fatty acids that can be stored in the body fat).
