BIOMOLECULES AND ENZYMES

Detailed explanation-1: -Cattle can digest cellulose because they have cellulose-digesting bacteria called ruminococcus in the rumen. These bacteria produce an enzyme called cellulase that can breakdown cellulose to glucose.

Detailed explanation-2: -You may wonder how the heck a large animal like a cow gets any energy from grass. The answer lies in these microbes. As they digest the cellulose by way of fermentation, their metabolic pathways produce chemicals called volatile fatty acids (VFAs). The cow uses these VFAs as a primary source of energy.

Detailed explanation-3: -Although multiple bacteria inhabit the cow’s rumen, this lesson focuses on two harmless microbes; Ruminococcus and Selenomonas, which break down cellulose and starch in plant matter, respectively. These bacteria obtain nutrients from the cow’s diet, and the cow gains energy from the products of bacterial metabolism.

Detailed explanation-4: -There are some animals, such as cows, goats and sheeps which graze grass that have symbiotic bacteria in their abdomen which can digest cellulose. Humans do not have these bacteria nor cellulase, the enzyme needed to break the bonds of cellulose whereas the bacteria in a cow’s gut does produce cellulase.

Detailed explanation-5: -Ruminant animals digest cellulose via a symbiotic relationship with ruminal microorganisms. Because feedstuffs only remain in the rumen for a short time, the rate of cellulose digestion must be very rapid. This speed is facilitated by rumination, a process that returns food to the mouth to be rechewed.