Livestock Studies 2008, Vol 48, Num, 2     (Pages: 093-099)

Cellulose Digestion in Ruminants

Engin ÜNAY 1 ,Sema YAMAN 1 ,Vedat KARAKAŞ 1

1 Lalahan Hayvancılık Merkez Araştırma Enstitüsü Müdürlüğü - The primary energy sources for ruminants are undoubtedly carbohydrates. As an animal feed cellulose is an important member of carbohydrates. It is the most abundant carbohydrate on the world, and 20-40% of dry matter of higher plants consists of cellulose. It also represents main part of plant cell wall and constitutes main fibrous substance. The nutritional utilization of cellulose varies from totally indigestible to completely digestible, depending largely upon lignifications. However, in addition to lignifications, there are other inhibitors and limiting factors and intrinsic properties which alter its digestibility. Because of these limiting factors and its intrinsic properties, digestibility of cellulose in the digestive system is still not cleared up enough. In this review, microbial degradation of cellulose and cellulose digestion were explained. Keywords : Ruminant, cellulose digest, microbial degradation