Studies on the relationship of saliva to rumen function of sheep on low feed intakes

Seven in vivo experiments are reported in which the effects of diverting alkaline mixed saliva from the actively fermenting contents of the rumen of anaesthetized and conscious sheep fed on a standard ration were studied for periods up to 6 hr. The absence of various quantities of saliva (225–1349 ml) was associated with profound alterations in the rumen environment: rumen liquor volatile fatty acid (V.F.A.) levels were consistently and substantially elevated, and rumen pH levels depressed. These changes in the rumen environment began about 40–60 min after saliva diversion commenced, and were sustained long after such values for the control animals had inflected towards fasting levels. Rumen movements were recorded in two experiments. Rumen movement was reduced, but not entirely suppressed, some 60 min after the minimal pH values obtained. It is suggested that this reduction in rumen movement was a consequence of depressed pH values. The rumen pH-rumen V.F.A. relationship was, in six such cases, altered but the strength of this relationship was not significantly changed. It was concluded that these effects on rumen pH-V.F.A. levels and relationship were due, directly or indirectly, to the changed buffering or osmotic regime, or both, of the saliva-depleted rumen liquor. Implications of these findings are discussed in the light of rumen physiology and the field use of oesophageally fistulated sheep.