Specific Difference in Fluctuation Pattern of Holotrich Concentration in the Rumen of Cattle, Goat and Sheep

Abstract

Studies were carried out to compare fluctuation patterns of the holotrich concentration in the rumen among cattle, goat and sheep, and to examine the cause of a possible difference. Several experiments were done using two Holstein cows, two Japanese native female goats and one Merino ewe which had been accustomed to feeding twice daily at 09.00 and 17.00 as routine. Holotrich concentrations in the rumen of goat and sheep began to increase prior to the com-mencement of the routine feeding, but such a prefeeding increase was never detected in cattle when they were fed at an ordinary feeding time as well as when fed an hour later than usual. Sudden delay of feeding in goat and sheep caused an increase in holotrich concentrations in the rumen not only after the actual feeding but also at time when they used to ingest feed but were not given on that day. When a goat was isolated and delayed in feeding time for three weeks, an increase at first seen in the holotrich concentration at an original feeding time disappeared from the fifth day after the isolation and the delay. On the basis of the sequestration-migration theory previously introduced to explain the cause of puzzling diurnal variations in holotrich concentration in the rumen, these results are considered to suggest that a contractive movement of the reticulum will be concerned with the migration of organisms into the rumen, and that the contraction may occur in response to the real ingestion of feed in cattle, but would occur in goat and sheep in response to the stimuli surrounding the routine work of feeding.