what's the ruminants stomach pH?

[113zami]

in my test prep book (which is a very reliable book) it says ruminants stomach has alkaline pH, I checked wikipedia and it says

"Under normal fermentation conditions the environment in the reticulorumen is weakly alkaline and is populated by microbes that are adapted to the elevated ph; since the stomach is acidic it acts as a barrier that kills reticulorumen flora as they flow into it."

so its only the reticulorumen that's alkaline but the stomach is acidic, can someone please clarify if ruminants stomach is acidic or alkaline? thanks

I also checked Scaum's bio book and Campbell bio text, neither says anything about ruminant stomach pH

thanks for the help

[Darby]

Try this -

http://animsci.agrenv.mcgill.ca/courses ... rumen.html

[MrMistery]

cow has four stomachs: first two are weakly alkaline so bacteria can live in them, the fourth one=the real stomach=abomasum is acidic, like any stomach. the third one=omasum is somewhere in between, but probably much closer to the rumen and reticulum, as its function is mainly to absorb water, not acid hydrolysis.

Cheers