Comparing The Efficiency Of Digestive Systems

The digestive system of a hippopotamus is similar to other hooved animals. Their mouth and lips can be about 2 feet wide at its lip. Their lips are about 70 cm long and that helps the hippos clip the grass and other food sources they get from the floor and grind their food up into a pulp and it helps them swallow their food much easier. Since plant matter for most ruminants is harder to eat and digest, ruminants have to regurgitate these leaves and grasses again. Hippos don’t ruminate but enjoy the advantages of it. Hippos are sometimes called pseudo ruminants. Hippos don’t regurgitate so the pulp is ineffective compared to other animals that graze. The food travels down through the esophagus like it does for almost every other mammals or

The esophagus receives food from the mouth after swallowing and then delivers it to the stomach. The stomach holds food which it is being mixed with enzymes which continue the process of breaking down the food into a useable form. When the contents of the stomach are processed they are released into the small intestine. In the small intestine food is broken down by enzymes released from the pancreas and bile from the liver, the food is moved through and mixed with digestive secretions. The small intestine is made up of three segments the duodenum, jejunum and the ileum, the jejunum and the ileum are mainly responsible from the absorption of nutrients in to the bloodstream. These contents start out semi-solid and end in a liquid form after passing through the organ. Water, bile, enzymes and mucous change its consistency, one the nutrients have been absorbed it then moves onto the large intestine. The large intestine connects to the rectum and is specialised in processing water so that emptying the bowels is easy.

The digestive system of a pig is classified as monogastric or non-ruminant, which is having a stomach with only a single compartment, like humans. In addition, the digestive tract of the pig has five main parts, including the mouth, esophagus, stomach, and small and large intestines. Furthermore, the mechanical breakdown of the food begins upon the entrance of the mouth in the digestive tract. Basically, the food is grinded into smaller pieces by its teeth. Next, saliva is produced in the mouth, acting to moisten the small food particles, along with an enzyme that starts the digestion of the starch. Then, the food is pushed towards the esophagus with the help of the tongue. Primarily, the esophagus carries the food from the mouth to the stomach, being a tube, which is carried out with the help of a series of muscle contractions that push the food towards the stomach. Subsequently, after the first of the contractions, swallowing, has taken place, the cardiac valve, located at the end of the esophagus, prevents food from passing from the stomach back to the esophagus. Likewise, the stomach comes next in the digestive tract; it serves as a reaction chamber, adding chemicals to the food. Also, hydrochloric acid and enzymes help break down food into small particles of carbohydrates, protein, and fats. Additionally, some particles are absorbed into the bloodstream, from the stomach, while others cannot be absorbed by the stomach, being passed to the small intestine through the pyloric valve. Moreover, the small intestine aids

The ponies have a very limited diet consisting mostly of salty marsh grasses. Because of the high salt content, the ponies drink twice as much water fresh water as normal horses. This extra amount of water combined with high salt diet causes the ponies’ bellies to swell. This bloated appearance makes the ponies seem unnatural looking.

Horses are monogstric animals with a relatively small stomach. From the horse’s mouth to their large intestine, their gastrointestinal tract is similar to that of a human’s. However, past the cecum, a horse’s gastrointestinal tract is more similar to a cow’s [3]. A horse’s gastrointestinal tract can be divided into three segments: foregut, midgut, and hindgut [4]. The foregut consists of the esophagus and stomach. Once food has passed through the stomach, it enters the small intestine (midgut): duodenum, jejunum, and ileum, which join the hindgut, cecum, colon, and rectum, at the ileocecal junction. The small intestine and stomach can almost receive a continuous flow of food [3]. The cecum is a large fermentation vat located on the right side of the animal. Carbohydrates fermented by fibrolytic bacteria produce volatile fatty acids, which account for 60-70% of the their energy. However, in modern management practices, horse owners and equine caretakers do not let horses graze like they naturally should; therefore, they substitute the horse’s diet with grains and fats, which the horse is not designed to properly digest. This unbalanced feeding regimen causes numerous digestive disturbances [3].

What are the three sections of the large intestine and what roles does each play in digestion or absorption?

Digestion is the result of competition between the rates of digestion and passage. As passage rate increases, the digesta flowing from the rumen will contain greater amounts of undigested feed particles, resulting in a lower DMD (Varga and Kolver, 1997). Mwenya et al. (2003) in comparing indigenous fat-tailed and Dorper sheep found that Dorper sheep had significantly (P<0.05) in Dorper than in Merino sheep and this occurred when fed the lower quality, wheaten chaff diet. Therefore glucose synthesis may potentially be higher in Dorper compared to Merino sheep. This is an important finding and this may have contributed to the superior production responses reported by several researchers including Scanlon et al. (2013) of Dorper compared to Merino sheep, especially when fed on low quality, roughage

The digestive system of the horse consists of a simple stomach, small intestines, cecum, large and small colons, rectum and anus. The horse 's stomach is comparatively small for its size. The stomach of an average horse has a holding capacity of about two gallons. This may be the reason horses eat small but frequent meals. From the stomach food moves to the small intestine, which is the main site of digestion. The small intestine empties into the cecum. The cecum; along with the large colon; make up the large intestine. Digestion in the large intestine occurs by action of bacteria and protozoa. (arg.gov.sk.ca)

The molars are used by the rabbit for grinding down bulky, fibrous foods such as grass. Rabbits have 3 molars at the back of there mouths. The function of the molars is to grind down food, this is so the food is easily digested in the stomach and the rest of the digestive system. As teeth are constantly growing rabbits have to constantly wear them down. A rabbit only eats at dawn and dusk as it is crepuscular this means it will have to eat a lot of food in a small amount of time to wear the teeth down.

All 5 species have a working-normal digestive system. Although the frog, earthworm, fetal pig, and human all have an intestine. The starfish is not much alike. It has a stomach that pushes through the mouth of the starfish and uses the digestive juices to breakdown and eat food.

Colic in horses occurs in about ten percent of all horses (Lenz). Colic in horses is very similar to colic in babies. Babies that colic are typically very fussy and so are horses in their own way. All colic really means is a severe abdominal pain.

The plant material is broken down by enzymes making the pieces smaller. Mucus is secreted to protect the stomach lining from the acid. The acid kills the bacteria in the food. The enzyme pepsin breaks down any protein that is in the food they eat. The cow has 4 chambers which make up the stomach, this includes the rumen, reticulum, omasum and abomasum.

Colic is one of the most common ailments experienced by horses and is more common in horses than any other animal. It is more common at night and is often connected with irregular feeding. This is because of the horses’ inability to vomit and unload the stomach, the small size of the stomach and the great length of the intestines, puckering of the large intestine allowing food to lodge there, the range of movement the large intestine has within the abdomen and finally, the frequency a horse is affected with internal parasites. Colic can be fatal so it is vitally important that a vet should be called if colic is suspected. Colic is a set of symptoms pointing to severe abdominal pain. True colic relates to conditions arising in the intestines

This assessment will explain what the role of the liver and pancreas is and how it aids digestion, including what they produce and how this makes the digestive system efficient. It will also include the interaction of the circulatory and respiratory systems during exercise and at rest and how they work separately and together. Lastly, it will discuss what could go wrong with these systems and how it will affect the horse.

Despite the species or facet of the industry an operation is built to cater too, one of the easiest ways to improve the efficiency of livestock is through feed and nutrient management. Feed efficiency for livestock only becomes more important as farmers are responsible for feeding a growing population. However, in order to do that is important that a manager or owner understands the digestive system of that species and factors that can aid in this system ability to absorb the maximum amount of nutrients. This paper will be focused around different aspects of the ruminant digestive tract, and more specifically two of the smaller ruminant species being sheep and goats. I will explain in detail the 6 essential nutrients and why they are crucial to have in a feed ration, what occurs in each compartment of the stomach, including breakdown of feed, nutrient absorption, and also parasites that can become an issue in