Summary
The
morphometric variations of the rumen papillae due to different alimentary
diets has been analysed using a geographic information system (GIS),
as the preliminary stage of a wider study aimed at creating a geo-database
to link environmental data (pasture structure and composition, pastoral
value) with parameters measuring animal welfare (body condition
score, volatile fatty acids concentration, haematochemical profile)
both during a pasture vegetative cycle and in different conditions
of animal load on pastures, with the ultimate goal of contributing
to grassland management. A first step was to collect samples of
rumen wall tissue from different groups of sheep (lambs to milky
and mixed diet, and adult at the maximum of flowering and at the
end of pasture vegetative cycle) to verify morphometric differences
in rumen papillae due to different diets. Wall tissues of rumen
samples were removed from the dorsal and ventral sac and preserved
in a formalin solution. Twenty papillae from the dorsal and ventral
sac were taken from each sample and their images were elaborated
with ArcGISTM software. Results show that the morphometric
variation of papillae is related with the pasture productivity trend:
the maximum size of rumen papillae occurs immediately after the
phytomass and flowering spike; in this phase the animals utilise
a very nourishing and quantitatively abundant pasture. After this
phase, a deterioration of pasture occurs and the surface of rumen
papillae surface decreases rapidly. Results obtained further confirm
the existence of a close relationship between quality and quantity
of phytomass and the extent of rumen papillae absorptive surface,
demonstrating the effects of this relationship during a pasture
vegetative cycle.
Keywords
Diet,
Geographic information system, Grassland, Pastures, Rumen papillae,
Sheep, Surface enlargement.
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