The assessment of glucose-containing substances in rumen microorganisms during a digestion cycle in sheep.

It has been established that the digestion of carbohydrates in the ruminant occurs mainly through the agency of the micro-organisms of the alimentary tract. The evidence for this subject has been reviewed by Elsden & Phillipson (1948) and Baker & Harriss (1947-8). Most of this digestion occurs in the rumen. Of the cellulose of the diet about 80 yo of the total digested disappears in the rumen, the remainder being digested largely in the caecum (Hale, Duncan & Huffman, 1940, 1947; Gray,