EN
The sources of lipids and fatty acids in feeds for ruminants were specified. Digestion of lipids in ruminants is singular because of ruminal digestion. Rumen has a powerful lipase system, which is responsible for rapid hydrolysis of the dietary lipids to unesterified fatty acids. Then, they are hydrogenated by microbes to more saturated final products, mainly stearic acid. The consequences of increase in dietary lipids for structural carbohydrates and protein digestion are discussed.