WHEN cows chew the cud, they get unexpected help from the grass they’ve just
eaten. It kickstarts the digestion—the plant equivalent of committing
suicide. The finding may lead to ways of making cattle convert food more
efficiently.
Mike Theodorou and Alison Kingston-Smith of the Institute of Grassland and
Environmental Research, part of the University of Wales in Aberystwyth, have
shown that within dying plant cells, powerful enzymes called proteases break
down proteins in grass, liberating amino acids.
The process occurs in the rumen, part of the cow’s stomach that softens up
and ferments grass. Only when the mush passes…
