Digestive system of Cow

Question

Food once swallowed by the Cows and then this food goes back into their mouth to be chewed again. Explain this phenomenon?

Answer 1

The food once ingested by the cows and other ruminant animals first passes within the two compartments of digestive tube known as the reticulum and the rumen. Within them the food suffers through the action of the digestive enzymes secreted by the microorganisms which live there in the mutualist ecological interaction. In reticulum food is further divided in some food bolus too. After passing through the reticulum the food is reiterated to the mouth so that it can be chewed again and swallowed in a process known as “rumination”. Digesting food which then enters the omasum where it is mechanically mixed. Thereafter, food goes to the abomasum, organ where the chemical digestion takes place. After leaving the abomasum  the food bolus gains the intestine.