The gut of ruminants contains a highly diverse mixture of microbes responsible for digesting a wide variety of complex plant molecules. Maintaining such a heavy microbial fauna imposes an energy demand on the host animal, yet clearly this is a successful strategy for this group of animals. Why
The mixture of microbes allows the host animal to produce a much wider variety of digestive enzymes, far more than the host could encode in their own genome
The microbes in the gut of ruminants include bacteria,fungi and protozoa
These microbes helps the ruminant animals to digest food,without the microbes these animals would die
The microbes break down feed to produce volatile fatty acids, which are used by the cow(ruminant animal) as energy for maintenance and milk production
