Occurrence and protective determinants of ruminal lesions in slaughtered beef cattle: Rumen pH and papilla morphology
Abstract
Metabolic imbalances and mechanical trauma induced ruminal lesions are major economic and welfare concerns for the cattle industry. The aims were to characterize rumen fermentation and consider feeding duration, presence of foreign bodies, and fermentation products in relation to lesion formation. The aim of this study was to assess the association between morphological risk factors related to nutrition and reticula-rumen lesions as well as foreign bodies by post-mortem examination in 85 slaughtered cattle, with the resulting data analyzed through multiple logistic regression models. Rumen pH was the only variable with one of the lowest likelihood values for lesions (OR = 0.024; P < 0.001). More specifically, when the rumen pH increased by one unit, the likelihood of lesions decreased by roughly 97.6 %. Protection was also significantly associated with rumen acetic acid concentration (OR= 0.95; P < 0.05). On the other hand, a decrease of 1-unit in acetic acid concentration resulted in an odd ratio approximately 1.053-fold higher for the development of lesion. Also, foreign bodies (14.12 % of cattle were positive) were affected by papilla width in the negative direction coefficient (OR = 0.118; P < 0.05). Decreasing the papilla width by 1 cm increased the chance of identifying a foreign body 8.475-fold more than to overrule one. The presence of lesions and macroscopic ventral sac deformations also showed a strong positive correlation. The results of this study emphasize the necessity for a stable rumen pH and maintenance of epithelial integrity, especially papilla width which may play a major role in reducing ruminal health hazards in cattle.
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