When food has been degraded efficiently it passes from the reticulorumen through the reticulo-omasal orifice to the omasum followed by the abomasum to continue the digestion process in the lower parts of the alimentary canal.
32.
Under normal fermentation conditions the environment in the reticulorumen is weakly acidic and is populated by microbes that are adapted to a pH between roughly 5.5 and 6.5; since the abomasum is strongly acidic ( pH 2 to 4 ), it acts as a barrier that largely kills reticulorumen flora and fauna as they flow into it.
