[Food ingestion in ruminants: modalities and associated phenomena]

Abstract

This paper synthesizes the literature on modalities of food intake in ruminants and their main associated phenomena. Firstly, circadian distribution of feeding and ruminating activities has been examined. Ruminants spend a large part of their time chewing. Their meals have been described in detail; changes in rates of intake, time spent eating, the effect of restricting the amount fed or the period of feed accessibility have been discussed. When food is distributed, the animals have a "long" meal. These meals have been analysed in relation to the type of animal and the feed offered. The other meals ("small" meals) have been briefly described. The paper next examines the phenomena associated with meals, or induced by them, and implied in the control of food intake. Forestomach motricity varies according to ruminant feeding behavior and plays a basic role in digesta transit. Rumen content varies with the meal and its chemical composition due to the arrival in the rumen of food, water and saliva. Rumination may require 600 to 650 min/day and is important in the comminution and sorting of rumen particles. The digestive phenomena associated with meals are related to control of intake. The influence of rumen fill has been thoroughly discussed. Finally, main humoral changes due to intake have been reviewed. The influence of volatile fatty acids (VFA) and metabolites has been discussed as well as the role of glucose, amino acids and fatty acids. Among the hormones, insulin and glucagon seem to play an important role in controlling food intake. The amounts of gastrointestinal hormones increase during intake and may also play an important part. Despite a net improvement in the knowledge of phenomena related to intake, much still remains to be done in setting up models to describe these phenomena in relation to feeding activities and to aid in understanding the mechanisms controlling feed intake in ruminants.