Abstract
THE changes taking place in the rumen may be envisaged as a form of process organised with reference to the utilization of microbial products. Suok an organisation in which a complex system of factors, internal and external, converges upon the attainment of a final state may be termed a functional field. Thus the efficiency of the process will devolve upon the intensity of the field established and will be exemplified in the degree of integration achieved between the metabolism of the animal and the activities of an indigenous microbial population. Correlatively, the actual organisation of the gut will in part define in advance the working capacities of the system. A comparison of these features in ruminant and non-ruminant Herbivora, therefore, is essential to an understanding of the rumen process.
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BAKER, F. The Rumen Process as a Functional Field: an Attempt at Synthesis. Nature 158, 609–611 (1946). https://doi.org/10.1038/158609a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/158609a0
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