School of Agriculture, Policy and Development, University of Reading, Earley Gate Reading, United Kingdom.
ETH Zurich, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Universitätsstr. 2, Zurich, Switzerland.
J Exp Zool A Ecol Integr Physiol. 2017 Feb;327(2-3):98-109. doi: 10.1002/jez.2075. Epub 2017 May 17.
Horses achieve a higher degree of particle size reduction through ingestive mastication than functional ruminants. We characterized mastication using chew-monitoring halters (RumiWatch) in six domestic horses, cattle, and Bactrian camels each. All animals were offered grass hay of the same batch for 15 min. In cattle and camels, measurements were continued after eating until rumination was observed. Except for one horse, 96% of the horses' ingestive mastication data were identified as "rumination" by the proprietary RumiWatch algorithm, whereas ingestion and rumination by cattle and camels were mostly classified correctly. There were no systematic differences between cattle and camels. In cattle and camels, ingestive mastication was less regular than rumination, indicated by significantly higher standard deviations of chewing peak intervals, peak heights, and peak breadths in intraindividual comparisons. The average standard deviations of these measures were lower in horses than in cattle and camel ingestive mastication, indicating a more consistent chewing pattern in horses. Horse values were similar to those of rumination mastication, suggesting equally regular chewing motions. Regular, rhythmic chewing represents a common feature of horses and functional ruminants, but the less uniform ingestive mastication in functional ruminants represents a deviating pattern, the adaptive value of which remains unclear. In particular, it does not appear to promote a higher ingestion rate. A potential cause may be the avoidance of high tooth wear rates by delaying a more regular, systematic mastication until ingesta has been softened and the grit has been washed off in the forestomach.
马通过摄食咀嚼达到比功能性反刍动物更高的颗粒减小程度。我们使用咀嚼监测项圈（RumiWatch）对六匹家马、牛和双峰驼进行了咀嚼特征分析。所有动物均喂食同一批次的干草 15 分钟。在牛和骆驼中，进食后继续测量，直到观察到反刍为止。除一匹马外，专有 RumiWatch 算法将 96%的马摄食咀嚼数据识别为“反刍”，而牛和骆驼的摄食和反刍大多被正确分类。牛和骆驼之间没有系统差异。在牛和骆驼中，摄食咀嚼不如反刍有规律，个体间比较时，咀嚼峰间隔、峰高和峰宽的标准差明显较高。这些措施的平均标准差在马中低于牛和骆驼的摄食咀嚼，表明马的咀嚼模式更一致。马的值与反刍咀嚼相似，表明咀嚼动作同样规则。有规律、有节奏的咀嚼是马和功能性反刍动物的共同特征，但功能性反刍动物不那么规则的摄食咀嚼是一种偏离模式，其适应价值尚不清楚。特别是，它似乎并没有促进更高的摄食率。一个潜在的原因可能是为了避免高牙齿磨损率，直到食糜变软并在前胃中冲洗掉沙砾，才会进行更规则、系统的咀嚼。
