Question

Assertion: Rumen of alimentary canal of ruminant animals harbour numerous bacteria and protozoa.
Reason: bacteria and protozoa help in the secretion of gastric juice in the rumen.
(a) If both the assertion and reason are true and the reason is a correct explanation of the assertion.
(b) If both the assertion and reason are true but the reason is not a correct explanation of the assertion.
(c) If the assertion is true but the reason is false.
(d) of both the assertion and reason are false.
(e) If the assertion is false but the reason is true.

Answer 1

A greater portion of the reticulorumen, which is the first chamber in the food channel of ruminant animals, forms the rumen, also known as a paunch. It acts as the primary site of ingested feed for microbial fermentation. The reticulum, which is wholly continuous with the rumen, is the smaller component of the reticulorumen but varies from it in terms of the thickness of its covering.

Complete answer:
Ruminant animals have a compound stomach, consisting of four chambers, viz., rumen, reticulum, omasum, and abomasum, such as cattle , buffalo , sheep, donkey, and camel. Among the four chambers, Rumen is the first and the biggest. Numerous bacteria and protozoa, which carry out extensive cellulose fermentation, harbour the rumen and reticulum. So, in ruminants, these two chambers serve as sites for cellulose digestion. Only the fourth chamber secretes the gastric juice containing the enzymes and HCl.
To digest tough cellulose found in the plants in their diets, ruminant animals use a special four-chambered stomach with a distinct microbial flora. Most vertebrates are unable to make cellulase, the enzyme that breaks down cellulose, but it is produced for them by microbes in the rumen.
Ruminants chew plant matter and eat it and then swallow it. In the rumen, the plant matter is divided into liquids and solids, and fluids flow into the reticulum. Then solids in the rumen are regurgitated into the mouth to be chewed and broken down further. Liquids migrate into the omasum from the reticulum, where they absorb sugars, fatty acids and other nutrients into the bloodstream.
Food passes into the abomasum after the omasum, which in non-ruminant (monogastric) animals is much like the stomach, and from there travels into the small intestine, where it is digested.
So, the correct answer is ‘If the assertion is true but the reason is false’.

Note: Ruminants are mammals that digest food that is based on plants by processing it in their stomachs in a series of chambers. There are about 150 ruminant species, both domestic and wild species included. Cattle, goats , horses, giraffes, bison, moose, elk, yak, water buffalo, deer, camels, alpacas, llamas, and antelope are among the ruminating mammals.