Digestion of carbohydrates of hay in small ruminants

Abstract

1. An analytical scheme for the separation and identification of carbohydrates in food, duodenal contents and faeces of sheep is described.2. This scheme was applied to three sheep and one goat given hay diets, and the quantities of carbohydrates disappearing from the rumen and intestine respectively were assessed by reference to faecal lignin. Results indicated that 95–100% of digestible cellulose and 96–99% of digestible pentosan disappeared from the rumen.3. In an investigation of the microbial fraction of duodenal contents in the goat it was estimated that approximately 6 g carbohydrate passed to the duodenum per 24 h. Glucose accounted for a little over half of this amount.