Quantitative aspects of ruminant digestion and metabolism 2nd edition edited by jan dijkstra wageningen university the netherlands john forbes department of animal physiology and nutrition university of leeds uk james france formerly university of guelph canada december 2005 hardback 736 pages 9780851998145 december 2005 epdf 9781845931452 . The first edition of this book published in 1993 was very well received as providing a comprehensive review of the digestion and metabolism of ruminant animals since its publication much new research has been conducted in the subject and knowledge has increased this is incorporated in this second edition through the addition of five completely. This book aims to bring together the quantitative approaches concerned with elucidating mechanisms used in the study of ruminant digestion. Ruminant animals account for almost all of the milk and more than half of the meat consumed worldwide they have evolved a set of stomachs harbouring microorganisms which are capable of digesting fibrous materials such as cellulose in plants therefore a great deal of research has been conducted on the digestive system of ruminants and the metabolism of products of digestion