**Nutrition**

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36 Goat Science

**Chapter 3**

**Provisional chapter**

**Rate of Passage of Digesta in Ruminants; Are Goats**

Fluid passage rates through the rumen influence digestion of soluble food nutrients, amount of short-chain fatty acids absorbed in the rumen and that pass out of the rumen, the amount of by-pass protein of dietary origin and the amount of microbial protein available to the host as a protein source, making modelling of passage imperative. Current research on passage rate should seek to incorporate various factors that affect rumen fill, and solid and liquid passage rates to develop intake and passage rate prediction models. The aim of this paper was to discuss factors that affect rates of passage of digesta and rumen digesta load. Ambient temperature, animal physiological status and reproductive status, fermentation and diet quality are major factors affecting digesta passage rates. The animal physiology also influences digesta passage rate. Computation of animal production level to account for all the physiological processes that affect passage rate is vital. Discrepancies on how ambient temperature and particle density (buoyancy) affect the passage rate of digesta in the rumen may cause uncertainty in calibration of temperature and buoyancy in prediction models. Corrected for diet properties, goats

**Keywords:** diet selection, feeding behaviour, intermediate feeder, prediction model, ruminant

Goats have become one of the most important livestock for resource-limited farmers around the world because they can survive in harsh climatic conditions from cold temperate regions (in the Siberia) to hot arid deserts (in the Kalahari). Key to their ability to survive in diverse climatic regions is their ability to walk through tight, narrow places and their capability of efficiently utilising vast plant feed resources. Goats are important as a source of protein (milk and meat) and wealth. Given the increasing importance of goats among resource-limited farmers in tropical

**Rate of Passage of Digesta in Ruminants; Are Goats** 

DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.69745

© 2016 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution,

© 2018 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use,

distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

**Different?**

**Abstract**

**1. Introduction**

**Different?**

Mehluli Moyo and Ignatius V. Nsahlai

Mehluli Moyo and Ignatius V. Nsahlai

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.69745

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

have similar passage rates to other ruminants.

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

**Provisional chapter**
