[Masticatory cycles of the rumination type in vagotomized lambs].

Contractions of the fluid-filled RR dependent upon the activity of the myenteric plexus were observed within 2 weeks after vagotomy in sheep maintained on a liquid diet. Spontaneous but not adrenergic evoked rumination was recorded beyond the 5th week after vagotomy. The observation of ruminating-like activity during 120 to 200 min per day in chronically-vagotomized sheep indicates that the onset of rumination does not require a gastric afferent pathway.