Newly discovered bacteria can break down biomass

Despite decades of research, how ruminants deconstruct plant biomass in their stomachs is still something of a mystery. Now, an international team of scientists has identified a previously unknown family of bacteria and complex ...

Horses masticate similarly to ruminants

In contrast to ruminants, horses chew their food only once—but with the same regu-lar, rhythmic movements as cows, who ruminate their food after eating, as demon-strated by researchers at the University of Zurich and the ...

Camels emit less methane than cows or sheep

When digesting ruminants exhale methane. Their contribution to this global greenhouse gas is considerable. So far the assumption had been that camels with similar digestion produce the same amount of the climate-damaging ...

Vectors of bluetongue get a name

Scientists of the Antwerp Institute of Tropical Medicine (ITG) have developed a molecular technique to easily and dependably identify the biting midges that spread bluetongue disease. Until know this identification was a ...

Wildlife as a source for livestock infections

A bacterium possibly linked to Crohn's disease could be lurking in wild animals. According to research published in the open access journal BMC Microbiology, Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (Map), can be transmitted ...

Ruminants' genes are a treasure trove

A new large-scaled research project has mapped the genome of 44 ruminant species - a group of animals that have intrigued researchers for years because of their biological diversity and their huge importance as domestic animals. ...

Greener milk: How to make cow's nitrogen intake efficient

The amount of nitrogen that is excreted by livestock is directly proportional to the amount it is fed. This is according to Chris Reynolds a researcher in nutritional physiology of ruminants at the University of Reading, ...

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