eChapters

1. Tubercoxae
2. Twelth thoracic vertebra
3. First lumbar vertebra
4. Last rib
5. First coccygeal vertebra
6. Sacrum
7. Tuber ischii
8. T rochanter major
9. Femur
10. Lateral condyle of Tibia
11. Tibia
12. Distal end of fibula
13. Tuber calcis
14. Tarsus
15. Metatarsus
16. Phalanges
17. Patella

Gait of ANormal Animal

This is a four - beat gait. Walking can be of various forms, but regardless of the form, it must be an even four beat gait.

When a regular sequence is lost, identified by four hoof beats at precise interyals, the cattle is no longer walking.

The walking sequence is lateral because both feet of one side hit the ground before the two feet of opposite side strike.

Propulsion primarily results from the hindlimbs, and the forelimbs simply follow.

The length of stride in the walk will usually vary between 5 1/2 and 6 ft. This distance is measured between successive imprints of the same foot.

The step will vary between 33 and 39 inches and is the measurement made between the imprints made by a pair of forefeet or the imprints made by a pair of hind feet.

The sequence of the hoof beats can be described according to this pattern: (1) near - hind, (2) near - fore, (3) off - hind, (4) off - fore.

This gait is sometimes described as beginning with a forelirnb as ; (1) off — fore, (2) near - hind, (3) near - fore, and (4) off - hind.

This description is not proper according to the way the cattle starts, but it is proper after it is in motion.

Centre of gravity

It is most commonly located is the middle of the rib cage, just caudal to the line separating the cranial and middle third of the body because the CG & located more cranially. The forelimbs bear 60-65% of body weight. This causes an increased stress of forelimb and increase incidence of lameness. The horse that is taller over the group than the wither has an additional disadvantage, because PTS CG is shifted further forwards.

1. Long backed horses may develop a swing in the gait that alters the movement of their limbs. Such horses are prone to speedy cutting. Cross firing & back problem due to muscle ligament strain.

2. Short backed horses may develop a swing in the gait that alters the movement of these limbs. Such horses are prone to speedy cutting, cross firing & back problem due to muscle and ligament strain.

Egg Formation Phenomenon

The chicken egg consists of a very small Reproductive cell or Germinal disc [orBlastoderm;which iscapable of developingintoanEmbryo, iffertilized by a Sperm]. This tiny cell is surrounded by :

• Yolk
= OVARYis responsible for its synthesis.

• Albumen, Shell membranes, Shell and Cuticle
= These are produced in the OVIDUCT.

[A] OVARY

Although there are two ovaries and two oviducts in the hen, but only the left ovary and left oviduct are functional [because, the right ones are atrophied during embryo development]. Before egg production, the ovary is a group of small follicles of different sizes containing ova.

Formation of Yolk

• The yolk is just a source of food material for the small Reproductive cell (Blastoderm).

• Major amounts of yolk material is produced in the liver and transported to ovarythrough blood.

• Two days afterthe formationof First yolk. Second yolkbegins to develop.

• It takes about ten days for a yolk to mature.

For economical ration -preparation, selection of cheap feed amongthe locally available sources, is an important point to ponder. For this purpose, a list of available feeds is prepared alongwith their latest costs on dry matter basis. The cost per kgof dry matter is divided by the amount of the nutrient (as a decimal), it will give us a good idea of the :

• Cost of Crude Protein in ??Protein supplements and,

• Cost of Energy in ??Energy feeds.

For example, if alpha alpha hay costs Rs 3.93 per kgof dry matter, the cost per kg of Crude Protein = 3.93/0.171 = Rs 22.98 per kg.

In this way, it is possible to prepare a list of protein sources in the order of “Ranking” from which feeds can be selected at lower costs.

Effect of Differences in Dry Matter

Feeds are purchased on the basis of Dry Matter due to variation of moisture content. For example :

A Corn of 89 % Dry Matter costs Rs 7 per kg,

Another type of corn of 75 % Dry Matter can’t be comparable on this cost This can be done as following 

Chemistry of Alkanes

In living plants, hydrocarbons are universally distributed in the waxy coatings on leaves and other plant organs. Alkane fraction is commonly a mixture of hydrocarbons of similar properties. The qualitative pattern is relatively similar from plant to plant, but there are considerable quantitative variation. Alkanes are saturated long chain hydrocarbons. They are usually present in the range of C to C carbon atoms. Examples are n-nonacosane, C H and n-hentriacontane, C C . In general, odd-numbered carbon chains occur predominantly in the cuticular wax of plants and are substantially indigestible.

How alkanes are “user friendly” !

Following are some points to ponder :

• Alkanes are long carbon chains found naturally in plants and each plant species has its unique compliment of these different alkanes which act like “fingerprints”. Forage intake can be estimated from ‘faecal grab samples’, if the ratio between these endogenous plant alkanes and exogenous alkanes delivered from “a rumen slow - release gelatin capsule” is calculated.

• Alkanes can also be used for determiningdigestibility and characterizing thespecies compositionof thediet, makingalkanes an extremelypowerful tool for dairy research.

• Anenexpensive, reliable and simpletechnique offers tremendous potential for research in the area of low cost dairy production from forages. Such data may be used by “slow–release marker” to estimate intake and digestibility.

• Alkanes offer a potentially simple technique for the animal scientist and it is feasible to estimate alkane concentrations using Near Infra-Red scanning [N.I.R.]. It is a rapid analytical method, thus making alkane technology an extremely ‘user friendly’ tool to be widely adopted on behalf of the dairy industry.

Historical Aspect

The primitive man during his long history as a hunter and food gatherer, used ruminants as food till about 6000 B.C. Later, he developed the arts of aerable -agriculture and animal husbandry. The ruminants played a major role as sources ofbothfoodandmechanicalwork. In turn, the new techniquesof foodproduction greatlyincreased the amount of food available and enabledthe establishment of settled communities.Theradicalnatureof thesedevelopments was clearlyshown by the fact that within a couple of millennia, manhad evolved from primitive to urbanized, civilized communities. Throughout the historical epochs, animal food - meat, milk and milk products continued to form an important fraction of the diet in most of the civilized societies. The favoured nature of these foods was well shown in the observation that, with increasing affluence, human -beings tended to increase the fraction of the diet provided by animal foods, especiallyfromruminants.

Since middle of twentieth century, evidences had been accumulating to indicate that the high intake of saturated fats from meat and ‘dairy products might play a role in the etiology of atherosclerosis. This concern had provided a stimulus to produce husbandrytechniquesleadingto the modification of the composition of ruminant fats as well as possibility of protecting dietary poly - unsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) from ruminal biohydrogenation in 1951. Scientists all the world round, started studying ruiminant fats and ruminal lipid metabolism in this perspective. Different research groups developed various techniques of protectingdietary- PUFA, so as to make themavailable in the meat, milk and its products, but lacked the availability of sensitive techniques for confirmation. With the discovery of Gas Chromatoaraphy (GC) in 1954, a new beginning of resolution and detection of PUFA started with gradual precision. Later on, the GC was further equipped with mass - spectroscopy and subsequently with infra -red detector. The scientists were very much successful in protecting the dietary essential fatty acids (E.F.A.s) or even by - passing them from biohydrogenation in vitro.

The Codex alimentarius is a collection of standards, codes of practice, guidelines and other recommendations relative to food.

It is derived from latin word which means Food Code.

Codex alimentarius is about safe, good food for everyone - everywhere.

International food trade has existed for thousands of years but until not too long agofood wasmainlyproduced, soldand consumed locally. Over the last century theamount offoodtraded internationallyhas grownexponentially, and a quantity and variety of food never before possible travels the globe today.

The CODEX ALIMENTARIUS international food standards, guidelines and codes of practice contribute to thesafety, qualityandfairnessof this international food trade. Consumers can trust the safety and quality of the food products theybuyand importers can trust that the food theyordered will be in accordance with their specifications.

Public concerns about food safety issues are often placing Codex at the centre of global debates. Biotechnology, pesticides, food additives and contaminants are some of the issues discussed in Codex meetings. Codex standards are based on the best available science assisted by independent international risk assessment bodies or ad-hoc consultations organized by FAO and WHO.

Introduction

• Objective of animal diet formulations to provide a palatable ration at minimumcost to meet nutritional and energyrequirements of the animal.

• To achieve this objective, it is important to have knowledge about the requirementsof specific nutrient ingredients and the nutrient composition of feeds, which are used to formulate the animal diet.

• Diet formulation is an important aspect to meet production and financial goals in the most economical way.

• A dietis called balanced if it providesenergyto meet lactation, production and specific level of health requirement.

• Economic as well as nutritional aspects should be considered while optimisingnutrient ingredients.

• These three factors are so intimately related to each other that cannot be separated during the process of feed formulation.

Preliminary Stages

• The first step in diet formulation is to define the objective of diet formulation. Depending on the objective of diet formulation (such as reproduction, lactation, live-stocketc.), requirementsfor nutrient ingredients are established

• This step includes individual units and overall requirement for diet ingredients. After defining the objective of study and diet formulation, requirements of nutrient intake are defined to achieve that objective

• While definingtherequirement, socialenvironment, internal, external and economical conditions should be taken into consideration.Nutrient requirements can be established by the empirical method and factorial method.

• The empiricalmethodisbasedonexperimental studies whereas the factorial method identifies the various functions within the animal that defines the needs of nutrient ingredients.

Introduction

First feed mill was established in 1875 A.D. in the state of Illinois, U.S.A. for calf meal production.

First feed mill in India was established in Ludhiana, Punjab in 1969 A.D.

A mill is a device that breaks solid materials into smaller pieces by grinding, crushing, or cutting. Such communition is an important unit operation in many processes. There are manydifferent types of mills and manytypes of materials processed in them. Historically, mills were powered by hand (e.g., via hand cranks) working animals (horsemill), wind (wind mill) or water (watermill). Today they are usually powered by electricity and are controlled by computer (automatic mills).

The grinding of solid matters occurs under exposure of mechanical forces that trench the structure by overcoming of the interior bonding forces. After the grinding, thestate ofthesolid is changed:thegrain size, thegrain size disposition and the grain shape.

Milling also refers to the process of breaking down, separating, sizing, or classifyingaggregatematerial. For instance rock crushingor grindingto produce uniform aggregate size for construction purposes, or separation of rock, soil or aggregatematerialforthe purposesofstructural fillor land reclamationactivities. Aggregate milling processes are also used to remove or separate contamination or moisture from aggregate or soil and to produce “dry fills” prior to transport or structuralfilling.

Grinding may serve the following purposes in engineering: • Increase of the surface area of a solid

• Manufacturing of a solid with a desired grain size

This procedure allows us to mix two feed stuffs with different nutrient concentrations and come up with a mixture of the desired total concentration. For this square to work, the desired diet nutrient concentration must be between the nutrient concentrations of the two feed stuffs as well as in the same unit. The procedure can be used for Crude Protein, Energy, Minerals and so on and so forth.Also, in place of percentage, calories, parts per million/ billion / trillion and other units of measurement can be used.

Double Pearson Square Method

Sometimes, we might want to have the exact amounts of two major nutrients such as - Crude Protein and Energy.

For example, suppose we want a final mixture with 12 % Crude Protein (CP) and 74 % Total Digestible Nutrient (T.D.N.). We have :

A premixisa mixtureofvitamins, trace minerals, medicaments, feedsupplements and diluents either individually or in a combination. It is a value added solution for feeds with sustainable safety and quality.

The main objective of premixes is to deliver the micro-ingredients in a manner desired by customer. These blends of Micro-ingredients need to be carefully selected, analysed and homogenously manufactured in controlled conditions.

Good quality premixes are manufactured as per following four fundamental principles that determine premix quality and performance :

1. Understanding the chemical and physical attributes in the microingredient to be incorporated.

2. Testing to ensure that all microingredients meet specifications.

3. Controllingthe inclusionin fullproof and secure method.

4. Blending together in speciality mixers to achieve a homogenous mix.

Gas Chromatography (GC) was discovered in 1954, a verysensitive technique, whichpavedwaytothisworldfor the resolution ofthe sampleleadingtodetection … identification of the minutest quantity of the desired sample.

Fattyacids were usuallyconverted into correspondingmethyl esters (FAME) to improve volatility and to reduce peak tailing for GC. Usually, FAME could be conveniently prepared by heating lipids with a large excess of either acid- or base-catalyzed reagents. Whereas, acid-catalyzed reagents form FAME from both free fatty acids (FFA) and O-acyl lipids base-catalyzed reagents caused only transesterification, i.e. conversion of O-acyl lipids to FAME and do not usually form FAME from FFAs. A base-catalyzed reaction was a useful alternative to acid-catalyzedreactions whena lipid sample contained acid-labile FAs such as propenoids, present in seed oils from the Malvales order, such as cottonseedoil. To effect solublizationof nonpolarlipids such as triacylglycerols in methanol. the predominant solvent in derivatization reagents, benzene was frequentlyadded to the derivatizalion reaction mixture. However, due to health concerns, use of benzene was discouraged. To help solubilize nonpolar lipids, methylene chloride and tetrahydrofuran had been used in place of benzene.

Sincehundreds ofyears, Livestockanimals arean integralpart ofcrop–livestock system. In the life style of Indian people, livestock had always been given a special and respectful place and this will continue in the years to come. Despite considerable deficit of feeds, the above may be one of the reasons of steadily increasing livestock production in our country. Almost all assessments made during the past eight decades, have shown deficits of different orders in respect of following for the availability of :

• Dry fodders

• Green fodders and

• Concentrates

Such surprising phenomenon is inviting our attention for reviewing systems of assessment for finding out the status of consumption and the gap between the above. Production of milk, meat, fibre, chicken and eggis increasing, though. Therefore, there is gap between the availability and requirements of different feeds. Because India is facing shortage of both protein and energy rich animal feeds, a large number of agro – forest based unconventional by products have been used. Some of these feeds were found to be promising, while others affected the performance of the animals, due to presence of incriminatingfactors present in them. But after detoxification, these feeds were suitable for animal feeding. Some of these feeds are :

The bio-degradation process dates back to time immemorial when some wild ruminant animals were spotted feeding on the tree –woods in South Chile. The natives of this place called this feed as “Palo Podrido (Huempe)”, meaning – ‘animal feed’, as opined by F. Zadrazilof Germany. Later on, it was found that thiswood was actuallydegradedbycertaintypes offungi undernatural conditions and decomposed to Spent-wood, which turned out to be the animal feed. The scientists started working on these fungi as well as this type of process. Lately, the fungi were found to be belonging to higher basidiomycetes class, called: White-rot-fungi. They mainly degraded lignin of the wood, however cellulose and hemicelluloses to a limited extent only.

But, surprisingly it was found that the digestibility and crude protein content increased to a considerable extent. Later on, the scientists started working on spent-straws too. The cereal straws (lignocellulosics) constituted a staple-feed (basal) in the developingcountries for theseruminantanimals. But, thepresence of lignin (a biological plastic) limits the utilization of these cereal straws in the rumen eco-system. Thus, the concept of SolidState Fermentation (SSF) sparked into this type of investigation. Some examples of such white-rot-fungi were: Pleurotus ostreatus, Coprinus cineus, Sporotrichum thermophile, Phanerochaete chrysosporium, Polyporous berkeleyi, Neurospora crssa, Alternaria tenius to name a few. Some examples of substrates upon which such types of fungi grew for SSF were: wheat straw, paddy straw, paddy husks, ground nut shells, sugarcane bagasse, barleystraw, sunflower stalk, aspen wood, birch wood, saw dust etc. The resurgence of interest in the use of straw from cereal and grain crops as animal feed had been witnessed in early nineties to maintain the performance of animals. Following were some of the variations undertaken by different scientific groups:

Carnivore [Carnivora]

Members of this family are mostly flesh-eaters and share features that show hunting lifestyle.

Limbs: These are very powerful, agile quick moving, very active.

Forward-facing eyes: These help in judging distance accurately.

Teeth: All have very strong canine teeth for cutting.

These molars … pre-molars function like shears to slice through flesh (meat).

One exception is the Giant Panda, which is almost-entirely Herbivore, although, most other members of carnivora family would supplement their diet with Vegetation, when necessary.

Pinnipeds [Marine mammals]

In some systems of classification, Pinnipeds are considered as members of Carnivora, for example, marine mammal – Elephant Seal.

Most pinnipeds are collected fromisolated island rookeries, shoelines or seaice. Use of a so – called “Wally” net is the most efficient means of collecting large Seals, such as above Elephant seal. Large transport - cage carries such big animal to shore.

Feeding wild animals in captivity presents a fearful challenge. There arehundreds of species to consider, each representing millions of years of evolutionary adaptation to particular ecological system.

Natural foods range from Ants to Antelopes. (Antelope = African (deer like) ruminant, forexample-gazelles, gnus, kudus and impala) and Mouth structures varyfromEdentate (toothless)toCarnassial(specialized pre-molars and molars).

Stomach : These may be

a) Single

b) Quadruple.

Intestines: These may be

a) Tube likeor

b) Equipped with a caecal fermentation vat (vat = large vessel).

On the surface, the problem appears unsolvable, … it certainly is not easy. But the need persists to nourish all captive species as appropriately as possible … it is not feasible to wait until a DATABASE is developed comparable with that which exists for domestic animals.Actually domestic animal data can be very useful for the estimation of nutrient needs of wild counterparts.

Dog Feeding

In Asia, dogs are the main pet animal kept both by urban and rural families. They are very versatile and adopt to common food habbits of their masters. Most often, they are fed on the home cooked foods – bread, rice, vegetables, pulses, milk and non – vegetarian meals. Many processed pet foods are also available in the market in the form of “Dry biscuits” or in “Canned form”, which provide all the requirements for Energy, Protein, Vitamins, Minerals and some moisture. Like any other farm animal, dogs also require these nutrients for their maintenance and productive purposes like – Growth, Lactation, Gestation, draft [sledge – cart on the ice] etcetra. Dogs and humans have been companions from time immemorial and the first readymade dog food was marketed under the name - DOG CHOW CHEKER in the year 1926. Since then such dog – foods have gained popularity. Most of the dog foods are manufactured abroad and marketed in India by Multi – National Companies (MNCs). Following are the guide – lines for feeding :

1. Energysources: Cereal grains - Jowar, Bajra, Oat, Maize, Sorghum.Average requirement of energy 3000 k.cal / kg of feed.

2. Protein sources: Vegetative origin : verypoor in Essential Amino acids. e.g. Soybean, grams, peas [green proteins], beans, other legumes.

3. Fat: 10 % (oil seeds are good sources Protein as well as Fats).

4. Non – starch fibrous feeds (5 %): To tone – up Alimentary canal.

5. Feedsupplements:Additional nutrients:Greenvegetables (carotenoids), fruits, skimmed milk, curd, butter – milk.

6. Feed Additives: These are Non-nutrients: Mushroom, herbal preparations [no side effects by Aanwala, Aloe-veera].

Patients are unable to consume foods and fluids orally when they are suffering fromillness. Under surgical conditions, severe burns, severe infectious neonatal infants, congenital anomalies, anorexia, coma or dysfunction of elementary tract etc., special feeding methods should be used for feeding such patients.

Objectives

• To provide water and electrolytes to prevent dehydration and correct electrolyte imbalance.

• To make up the loss of tissue protein.

• To provide energy to meet the daily needs of the patients.

The nutrients used in intravenous feeding are :

a) Water and electrolytes : The daily minimum water requirement of an adult on anaverage is 1.5 liters.Additional waterwillbe requiredto correct dehydration that might have occurred before therapy. The water loss made up in about 24 hour and the urinary excretion restored to about 300-400 ml in every 8 hrs.

b) Carbohydrates and alcohol : Glucose, Fructose and Sorbitol are used in intravenous feeding. Three per cent alcohol @ 8 g/h can also be given; because this provides 7.1 kcal energy/ g. Glucose is usuallyadministered as 5 % solution. Fructoseis preferred to Glucose, as it can be administered at a concentration of 10-15 % without any adverse effect.

c) Amino acids : Solution form of Protein hydrolysates, Synthetic amino acid mixture and a mixture of L-amino acids are available for intravenous feeding. Protein hydrolysates prepared from casein, free from peptides and fortified withTryptophan are commonlyusedfor intravenous therapy.

d) Whole blood or plasma : One litre of whole blood provides about 180 gm proteins including haemoglobin. Blood is used mainly to combat circulatoryfailure andloss of bloodfrombody. One liter of plasma contain about 60-70 gm of protein. Plasma infusion is given as a measure for increasing plasma protein level when it is low.

e) Vitamins: All the vitamins (twice daily requirements) should be added to intravenous fluid to meet the daily needs of the patient.

When we talk about importance of feed technology in relation to animal productivity, feed represents the major cost in animal production as follows -
Feed processing includes all operations necessary to achieve the maximum potential of nutritional value of a feed stuff. The process involves changing ingredients in such a manner as to maximize their natural value and the net returns from their use. Feed processing may be accomplished by Physical, Chemical, Thermal, Bacterial or other changes of a feed ingredient before it is fed. The primary reasons for processing feeds are to make changes in the moisture content, density of feed, particle size, palatability; or to make more profit, to improve nutrient availability, keeping quality; or to reduce storage -transportation space, cost, moulds, salmonella and other harmful substances. Detoxification of undesirable components because some feeds may contain toxic substances, theexcess consumption of whichmaycausedecreased nutritive value of the feeds or may injure some vital organs or even cause death. Some natural inhibitors in feedstuffs are as following :

Ideas, materials, facilities, processes and labourare clubbed together to produce a worthwhile product-milksuccessfully and this may be the art and science of management. In otherwords, weput togethertheinputs-soil, labour, hay, fertility, silage into milk and such transformations are the result of a purposeful and pre-meditated action-management and not just by happenstance.

Decisionmaking role of dairy farm manager Manager of dairy farm decides :

• What to do !

• How to do !

• When to do !

For answeringtheabove, themanager mustplan to co-ordinate, organize, control and direct his supportive staff. For accomplishing his targets, the manager must gatherinformation about allresources available, applicationof newtechnologies, different options of market outlets and sources of capital credit needed. He should be able to establish targets to be achieved. Obstacles or ‘stumbling blocks’ are always there which hinder progress towards goals. Therefore, these have tobe identified.He shouldbe abletocomparealternative optionsof realizing targets, consideringtheeach one in terms of income potential, thecapital needed, the labour required. Then choosing the best plan of action and put that option into operation. The manager should be able to assume responsibility for the consequences of actions taken. Later, he should evaluate and measure results. His accomplishments maybe assessed in the light of standards of performance. Notonlythat, but alsoto keep a vigil on production level, labour efficiency, cost, investments etc. He must keep the operating system flexible so that he may take advantage of new developments to be applicable in his plans.

Biochemical and Physiological Role of Lactation is Tremendous

On a large scale, feed nutrients are converted into milk constituents by considerable biochemical and physiological processes. Ahigh yielder of dairy may produce five times dry matter in the milk, as is present in her own body, during a single lactation. Still there are records of cows, which have produced in a year’s milk over five times the organic matter of their own bodies. Certain other high yielders, which over a life time, have secreted organic matter in the milk equivalent to thirty five times that present in their own tissues. The noteworthy physiological performance is represented in the milk secretion of sownursinga largerlitter.Humanorganismiscapableofproducinganastonishing output of milk. Thefeed provides rawmaterials fromwhichthe milkconstituents are derived. Some of these milk components are synthesized in the udder, for which energy is supplied again byfeed. Therefore, the amount and composition of milk dictates feed requirement.

The increase in size and weight of farm animals is the simplest manifestation. The life in the animals begins with a single cell weighing practically nothing, then grow to reach mature weights ranging from 1 kg to 800 kg or more for a bison. Fromconceptionto maturity, animalsgrowth canbe depicted bya sigmoid (S-shaped) graph :

Practically there may be deviation from above pattern due to environmental and nutritional features. Retardation of growth may be observed due to feed scarcity during cold or dry seasons. Vice-versa will happen when there is feed abundance. Intensivehusbandrygenerallyfollows sigmoid growthof animals. Whereas, idealized pattern of growth would be deviated in the growth rate of animals, whenreared undernatural (extensive) conditions;exhibitinginterrupted curves. While growing, development of various parts of the animal, defined as anatomical components (for example legs), as organs (for example liver) or as tissues (for example muscle) grow at different rates. By the time of maturity, the proportions of the animal changes. For example in cattle:

• At birth: Head is relatively large, 6.2 % of the body weight. • At body weight of 100 kg: Head is 4.5 % of body weight.

Maintenance

When an animal is being fed for growth, fattening, milk secretion or other productive function, a considerable part of its feed is utilized for supporting body processes which are vital, irrespective of new tissue or product is being formed. This demand for feed is referred to as the “Maintenance requirement”; because it includes the amount needed to keep intact the tissues of animal which is not growing, working or yielding any product. There would be tissue break down with the accompanying loss in weight, leading to undesirable consequences, provided such need for feed is not met.

The fasting catabolism

The fasting animal doing no external work and not producing in any way is still carrying on a variety of internal physiological processes, which are absolutely vital for life. Obviouslythe nutrients required to support theseinternal activities must come from the break down of body tissue itself. This destruction of body tissue is termed as the “Fasting catabolism” and this can be measured in terms of the waste products discarded through the various paths of excretion.

Energy catabolism of fasting

The energy expended in the fasting animal is converted into heat, which can be measured in direct or indirect calorimeter. For measuring fasting catabolism at its minimumvalue, it becomes imperative to eliminate all the influences leading to increase heat production above the minimum expenditure compatible with the maintenance of life in so far as possible. Such a minimum value is called “Basal-metabolism” or BMR.Theconditions essential fora true minimumvalue of fasting catabolism can most nearly be attained in human being are specified as following :

Declaration of facts about the amounts of nutrients required by the various classes of livestockfor differentphysiologicalfunctions like maintenance, growth, lactation, eggproduction, wool productionetc. are in generaltermed as “Feeding standards”. Nutrient requirement is the statement of what animals on an average require for a particular function.Allowanceis greater than the required amount by a ‘safety margin’ which is allowed for variations in requirement between individual animals. Such standards may be expressed in quantities or in dietary proportions, for example gram per day, this method of expression is used mainly for animals given exact quantities of feeds; or gram per kilogram of the diet, this method is used for animals fed to appetite.

Various units are used for feeding standards – for ruminants, the energy requirements may be stated in terms of net energy, metabolizable energy or feed units and protein requirements in terms of crude protein, digestible crude protein or metabolizable protein. It is obviously desirable that the units used in the standards should be the same as those used in the evaluation of feeds. For dairy cows, the requirements are given separately for maintenance and for milk production. But for growing chickens, they are given for maintenance and growth combined. In some instances, the requirements for single functions are not known, for example, vitamins and trace elements. As mentioned above, in feeding practice, the requirement amount is accompanied by the addition of a ‘safety factor’.

Crude protein of feedscontain true proteinandnon-proteinnitrogen. Trueprotein is madeupaminoacids andforthemaximumefficiency, feed musthave essential amino acids in correct proportion, correct balance as well as non essential amino acids should also be in sufficient amounts. About digestion in simple stomached animals, the true protein is degraded to oligo peptides (less than ten peptides) in the stomach, subsequently to mono peptide and amino acids in the small intestine. Thereafter amino acids are assimilated in the small intestine. But in ruminants, the situation is complex in the sense that feed proteins get digested in the rumen but even amino acids are also broken down by microbes and thereafter, amino and carboxylic groups are released. Secondly, synthesis of new amino acids or proteins takes place for the formation of their own microbial body coat. Because of these reasons, the approach for protein evaluationor expressionisdifferent inruminant andnon-ruminant animal.Further, non-protein nitrogen portion of feed can not be utilized effectively by non – ruminants like swine and poultry. These animals are usually fed with oil cakes, cereals and cereal by-products, which are poor in non-protein nitrogen compounds, however, young succulent fodders, clover etc. are rich in such compounds.

The animal bodycan be imagined as a machine, which is gettinginput of desired or available feed given by the farmer and this animal body after processing through various metabolic activities, output of product is given off. Feed is composed of organic nutrients-carbohydrate, fat and protein and after reaching in the animal body, used for constructive work, for example synthesis of body tissues and other associated work. Later, milk or egg is produced as an output. Now putting the same perspective in terms of energy, that is, these organic nutrients of the feed contain chemical energy and after reaching in the animal body, used as mechanical energyin muscles or heat energyin metabolism. The energy in the body would be utilized for the synthesis of body tissues or other productive output, for example, draft work by bullocks. Therefore, energy is primarily required for the maintenance of the body and then, for the productive purposes :

• Growth for all the farm animals

• Milk from cow, buffalo, sheep, goat • Eggs from poultry, duck, turkey

• Wool from sheep

• Meatfromfatteninganimals under the law, for example– mutton, chevon, pork, chicken.

There are three types of systems for expressing the energy value of feeds and many examples have been depicted in each of these systems the world over but here, one example has been taken up in each of these categories.

Digestible Nutrient Type

For example, Total digestiblenutrients (TDN) system: Digestibility coefficients of various organic nutrients like carbohydrate, fat and protein are determined by digestibility trials, which can be utilized to be involved for total digestible nutrients as a measure of nutritive value of feeds. Here only faecal enegy loss has been considered barring losses from other channels. Hence roughages are overestimated bysuchcalculations.Otherwise, thismethodissimple, economical and has some basis for animals to be fed on such standard in India. The TDN value is expressed in percentage as following :

% TDN = % dig. C.P. + % dig. C.F. + % dig. N.F.E. + [% dig. E.E. X 2.25]

Thousands andthousands ofsamples ofvarious feeds andfoddersweresubjected to Weende analysis fortheir chemical composition have been depictedin various manuals. Such proximate principles of these feeds provide only the potential value forreference or consultationpurpose, but not theactualvalue of feedstuffs. Losses of nutrientsinfaeces(solids), urine (liquid), gasesetc.duringthe digestion, absorption andmetabolismof theanimal shouldalso be taken into consideration. Therefore, a need arises to conduct digestibilitytrial or experiment for the feeds in the ruminant animals. Major portion of the nutrients present in the feeds are not properly digested in the gastrointestinal tract (G.I.T.), hence not completely available to the animal body. Digestibility is that portion of a feed or any single nutrient of feed, which is not excreted in the faeces or dung and it is therefore, assumed to be absorbed by the animal. When this digestibility is expressed in percentage, it is termed as ‘digestibility coefficient (D.C.)’.

Mixture of nutrientscomprisingcarbohydrates, fats, proteins, minerals, vitamins and water are feed stuffs. From the intestinal wall, very few of such nutrients can pass directly to the body tissues, therefore they must be degraded down into simple compounds before they pass through the mucous membrane of the gastrointestinal tract (G.I.T.) intothe bloodand lymph. This degradation process is regarded as ‘digestion’. Thereafter, the movement of these simple compounds through the mucous membrane oftheG.I.Tract into the blood iscalled absorption. Metabolism is the utilization of these nutrients by the animal body and then excretion of the end products takes place from the body. The digestion of feeds is carried out by three means namely, mechanical action: mastication in the mouth and the muscular contraction of G.I.Tract; chemical action: this is carried out by enzymes secreted by digestive juices and microbial action: this is also enzymatic action, but the enzymes are secreted by microbes instead of host.

In ruminants, it is the rumen which harbours bacteria, protozoa and fungi (Fig. 1) ; whereas in non-ruminants, it is the large intestine (Fig. 2). There are four compartments in the stomach-reticulum, omasum, rumenand abomasums. Reticulumprovides ruminantadditionalspacefor storage.Also, if byanychance, foreign bodies like nails, wires etc. reach over here alongwith feed, they are retained for longer periods and thus, soft organs are protected. Omasum squeezes out water from the feed with the help of its strong muscular walls. In the suckling calves or lambs, the two compartments-rumen and its continuation reticulum are less developed and both are joined by a tube like structure -oesophageal or reticular groove, which directly opens into abomasum. That is why in these sucklings, milk reaches straight into the abomasum, which is the true stomach. Rumen develops at about six weeks of age in these young ones. As these sucklings begin to eat solid feed, both rumen and reticulum enlarge greatly and separate. Now oesophageal or reticular groove does not exist.

There are six nutrients which are very important to animal body and they are – Carbohydrates, Lipids, Proteins, Minerals, Vitamins and water.

Carbohydrates: These are polyhydroxy aldehyde or ketone as in monosaccharide or polymers in oligo or polysaccharides. The question arises whether carbohydrate is a dietaryessential !!! Carbohydratemay not be dietary essential but it is definitely metabolically essential. The organic compounds – fats, proteins are oxidized only in the presence of carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are the structural components of DNA, RNA, and some other vital organic molecules. Although less than 1% is present in the human body (because constantly being formed and broken down in metabolism), yet without the presence of this carbohydrate, the existence of living creature is at stake.

Carbohydrate in the form of glucose primarily provides energy in the body and excess amount of carbohydrate is stored as glycogen in the liver and muscle. More than fifty per cent of the energy value of the diet is provided by carbohydrate.

Glucose + 6O₂ → 6 CO₂ + 6H₂O + Δ E (675 k.cal)

They also exhibit protein sparing action because proteins are mainly required for tissue-building i.e. general wear and tear in the body. If there is any emergency, say animal is deficient in calories of the diet, then it will use adipose and protein tissues. It is said that proteins and fats are burnt or oxidized in the flame of carbohydrate.It means thatcertain intermediarycompounds of glucose oxidation through krebscycle are absolutely necessary for oxidation of proteins and fats. Again, in any emergency, if glucose level of the body goes down, fats and proteins take over and they get metabolized faster than the animal body

Livestock feeds have a variety of feed stuffs for feeding. Composition and characteristics differ even amongcloselyrelated feeds.Also, cost and availability of such feeds at a particular place, makes the farmer to choose for practical feeding. Therefore, it becomes imperative to learn about such classes. Feeds may generally be classified according to the amount of a specific nutrient they provide intheration. Theymayconvenientlybe divided intotwo general classes– roughages and concentrates. Roughages are bulky feeds containing more than 18 per cent crude fibre, but less than 60 per cent total digestible nutrients. Contrary to this, concentrates have less than 18 per cent fibre, but more than 60 per cent total digestible nutrients. Roughages may be further sub-divided intosucculent and drytypes.Whereas, concentratesare sub-dividedintoEnergy or basal feeds havingless than 20 percent crude protein and Protein supplements havingmorethan 20percent crude protein. Followingfeeds indicate theoutlines of classification [Flow chart 1] of the conventional feeds into broad categories with examples.

Nutrition involves various bio-chemical and physiological activities which transformfeed elements into bodyelements. These feed elements are nutrients which are digested, absorbed, utilized to build and renew the components of the animal body. As a result, animal grows and produces-milk, eggs, wool with the help of energy so produced in the body. Afterweaning, most of our farmanimals obtainall of their feedsupply from plants.Barringcarnivores, theplant kingdom is the original and essential source of all animal life, because plants are able to utilize the energy of the sun to build substances which nourishthe animal. Plants make use of carbon dioxide, water and mineral salts to form carbohydrates, fats and proteins which are utilized in the life processes of animal body. Thus plants store and animals dissipate energy.

Plants and their parts

Animal body and plants contain the same substances but they differ in relative amounts. There are also much larger compositional differences among species than do animals. Water is the principal constituent of living plants as well as animal body. With the maturity of seed, water content decreases. The dry matter of plants consists principally of carbohydrates, which serve as both structural and reserve material, while in animals, protein comprises the structure of the soft tissues and fat is the reserve. Thus, animal body contains only a trace of carbohydrate, though occurring as much less than 1 per cent at any given moment, because it is constantly beingformed and broken down in metablolism. Whereas, this is the principal constituent of most of the plant species. Protein is the main constituent of active tissues and thus leaves are much richer in this nutrient than are stems. Grass hays contain less protein than leguminous hays. When theplant matures, there isgradualmovementof protein fromthe vegetative parts to the seed. Thus, the seed contains a higher percentage of protein than the rest of the plant, as in grains and stovers.

A. Multiple choices (you have to choose most appropriate answer among 4 alternatives)

1.    Which of the following bacteria in rumen is not cellulolytic

a. Bacteroides succinogenes

b. Ruminococcus flavefaciens

c. Ruminococcus albus

d. Succinivibrio dextrinosolvens

2.    Which of the following bacteria does not interact with anaerobic fungi

a. R. albus

b. R. flavifaciens

c. Butrivibrio fibrisolvens

d. Fibrobacter succinogenes

A. Answer the following questions

1.    WhyvitaminAdeficiencyis far common in captive carnivores than free rangingwildlife?

Ans: Because they are fed exclusively on carcass meat without liver, cod liver oil or synthetic sources of vitamin A and moreover, thay can not convert ?-carotene to vitamin A.

2.    Why weekly off day feeding is practiced in tiger in all Indian zoos?

Ans: This ispracticed tostimulatetheintermittentfeedingbehavior of tiger in wild condition.

3.    Why metabolic bone diseases are very common in captive carnivores?

And: As the carcass meat provided in captivecondition is deficient in Ca and ratio of Ca: P (1:20) is very highly imbalanced.

4.    Write the extreme specializations in GItract seen in vampire bats?

Ans: Like blood sucking parasites, their GI tract is reduced to a tube since it feeds only on blood.

A. Answer the following questions

1.    Why protein requirement for maintenance in cat is high?

Ans: It is due to the inability of the nitrogen catabolic enzymes in the cat’s liver to adapt to changes in dietary protein intake.

1.    Why arginine is dietary essential in cat?

Ans: Because, cat is unable to synthesize ornithine which is an arginine precursorwithin theurea cycle. Aminoacid glutamic acid and proline is precursor of ornithine in the intestinal mucosa of all mammals.However, an enzyme thatis required in the pathway, proline-5-carboxylate synthatase is absent in cat’s intestinal mucosa. In the absence of dietary arginine, a high catabolism of protein generates a load of ammonia that cannot be detoxified by its incorporation to urea and hyper ammonia develops.

2.    Why taurine is dietary essential in cat?

A. Answer the following questions

1.    What is the DM consumption in adult guinea pig? Ans. An adult animal consumes @ 7-8% of body weight.

2.    Mention daily average feed consumption of guinea pigs?

Ans: Growing Guinea pigs: 20-30g, Adult maintenance: 30-50g, Pregnant and lactating: 40-60g.

3.    Write down the peculiarities of digestive system of guinea pig.

Ans. The entire stomach of guinea pig is lined with glandular epithelium and gastric mucosa does not have a keratinized portion.

4.    Why guinea pig cannot synthesize vitamin C?

A. Answer the following questions

1.    Why Oats are mostly preferred by horse?

Ans: Because oats are low in energy, rich in fibre (8-11%), very soft and easily ruptured duringmastication, highly palatable, rich in oil content (5%), better protein quality (high lysine), more readily digested in the S.I. than maize and barley and moreover it provides a more open textured material in the stomach due to high fibre and are thus least likely to cause colic compared to other cereals.

2.    Why wheat is most likely cereal to cause colic in horse?

Ans: Because of its high gluten content since gluten leads to the formation of doughy lump in the stomach. Hence wheat should not be used exceptin small quantities or in low levels.

3.    Why Excessive feeding of wheat bran leads to ‘Big head disease’ or ‘Millers disease’ in horse?

Ans: It is due to an imbalance ratio of Ca and P in this bran i.e high in P and low in Ca. So, due to a Ca deficiency, Ca is withdrawn from the bone and the bone is replaced by a proliferationof fibrous connective tissue whichismainlyfound in the skull or jaw.

A. Answer the following questions:

1.    What is flushing?

Ans: It means putting the sow on a more nutritious ration before breedingseasonto improvephysical condition of the female, prominent heat symptoms, increases ovulation rate, shortens period between weaning to successful conception, more uniform litter size and minimizes embryonic death, prompt post weaning estrus.

2.    What is piglet anaemia?

Ans: It is a condition occurs 2-4 weeks after birth when piglets do not have access to soil or pasture and are housed in concrete floor. Piglet anemia is characterized by labored spasmodic breathing(popularlyknownasthumps); hemoglobinlevelfalls to 3-4mg/100ml of blood, poor growth rate, wrinkled skin, rough coat, lack of healthy pink color of visible mucous membrane.

3.    Why pig industry in India has not yet been developed?

Ans: It is mainly due to the fact that pig is not used as meat by majority of meat eaters.

4.    Why it is advisable to offer cereal based ration to the piglets only after two weeks?

A. Answer the following questions

1.    Why ducks are highly susceptible to aflatoxicosis?

Ans: Ducks are about 200 times more sensitive than broilers and layers. Ducks contain a very high level of enzyme in the livertoconvert aflatoxinB to “aflatoxacol”. Besides, aflatoxin metabolism is 90 times faster in the duck liver than in rat liver.

2.    Why duck should have never access to feed without water?

Ans: Most mashes form a sticky paste when mixed with saliva and adhere to the papillae and other structures bordering the outer margin of the tongue and upper and lower bill. This caking interferes with the movement of the food mass to the tongue resulting in reduction of food intake and increase in feed wastage which occurs when the duck attempts to shake or wash off the mash adhering to its mouthparts.

A. Answer the following questions

1.    What are metabolic diseases?

Ans: It is defined as disturbances of the internal homeostasis of the body brought about by an abnormal change in the rate of one or more critical metabolic processes.

2.    How do you prevent milk fever by nutritional management?

Ans: By providing a ration that contains 0.5-0.7% Ca and 0.3-0.4% P and by feeding 20 Million Units of vitamin D/cow/ day starting about 5 days before calving and continue for maximum7 days postpartum.

3.    What is the nutritional management strategy to prevent grass tetany?

Ans: A salt lick of 10 parts each of MgSO₄ and Ca(PO₄)₂ with 80 parts of salt is effective. Besides a mixture of 2 parts of MgO and 1 part salt is also effective measure.

4.    Write down the preventive measures of ketosis?

A. Answer the following questions:

1.    What is NPN substances?

Ans: Feedstuffs which contain nitrogen in the form other than protein or peptides aretermed as non-protein nitrogen (NPN).

2.    What is liquid diet?

Ans: Liquid molasses containing 2-3% of uniformly mixed urea fortified with minerals andvitaminsis named as ‘liquiddiet’.

3.    Name few amides.

Ans. Urea (46.6% N) and Biuret (35%N)

4.    Name few amines:

Ans. Histamine from Histidine, Tryptamine from Tryptophan, Tyramine from Tyrosine, Betaine from Sugar beet pulp.

5.    Name few alkaloids.

A. Write True or False of the following statements

1.    Goats have higher threshold level for bitter taste than other ruminants.

2.    Cattle is acknowledged as mobile pruning machine.

3.    Creep feed should have at least 10% DCP and 58% TDN. 4. Goat under brows condition performs better.

5.    Colostrumshould be fed to the kids @ 10ml/kgbodyweight.

6.    Creepfeed maybe introduced to kidsfrom101 days onwards.

7.    Due to difference in MBS, DMI is higher in larger breeds than smaller breeds.

8.    30-40% of feed intake by goat consists of leaves of shrubs and bushes.

A. Answer the following questions

1.    What is balanced ration?

Ans: According to Morrison (1956), a balanced ration is one that furnishes nutrients in such proportions and amounts that it will properlynourisha givenanimalfor 24hours.The required nutrients must be contained in the DM provided during the 24 hrs period otherwise the ration can not be considered as balanced.

2.    What is ration?

Ans: A ration is the feed allowed for a givenanimal duringthe day of 24 hours.

3.    What is effective rumen degradable protein? (ERDP)

Ans: It has been defined as a measure of the total nitrogen supply that is actually captured and utilized by the rumen microbes for growth and synthetic purpose.

4.    How heat treatment causes protein protection?

Ans Heating causes denaturation of protein and this may be beneficial because of reduced ruminal degradation partly by blocking reactive sites for ruminal proteolytic enzymes and partly byreducingprotein solubility.

A. Answer the following questions

1.    Define feeding standards?

Ans: Feeding standards are the statements or quantitative descriptions of amounts of one or more nutrients needed by the animals or human.

2.    Limitation of feeding standard?

Ans: Palatability and physical nature of the ration are not included and does not included the environmental factors because environment may change the nutrient requirements.

3.    Write down the merits of ME system?

Ans: ME gives more correct result than DE or TDN. It is because energy losses in urine and GDP are corrected in ME system and ME is cheaper and easier to obtain than NE values.

4.    What is the purpose of following feeding standard?

A. Answer the following questions

1.    What isdigestibility?

Ans: The portion of a feed or any single nutrient of feed which is not recovered in faeces i.e the portion which has been absorbed by the animal is called digestibility.

2.    Whatis digestibilitycoefficient?

Ans: When the digestibility is expressed in % then it is called digestibilitycoefficient.

3.    Why digestibility of ash is not calculated?

Ans: Digestibilityfor ashisnot calculatedsince mostof the minerals are re-excreted in the gut and it does not contribute to the energy content of food.

4.    Why digestibility of carbohydrate is overestimated?

Ans: This is because there are losses of ingested carbohydrate as methane and carbon dioxide. But these losses are not counted.

5.    Why digestibility of crude protein is underestimated?

A. Answer the following questions:

1.    What is Basis of scientific feeding?

Ans: Knowledge of the quantitative needs of the body for various nutrients and the relative value of feeds as sources of them is the basis of scientific feeding.

2.    What is the minimum requirement of animal per group to conduct a feeding trial?

Ans: Minimumanimal per group should be 4.

3.    When you will go for t test and ANOVA test?

Ans: In case of two rations, ‘t’ test and if it is 3 or more then ‘Analysis of Variance’ or ‘ANOVA’ test is applied.

4.    What are the advantages of feeding trials with laboratory animals?

Ans: It involves much less cost of animals, less feed and labour cost,requiredlesstime,individualvariabilitycanbe minimized due to similar genetic and nutritional history which is not possible in case of large animals, large number of animals can be used at a time and easy to slaughter the animals for histological and chemical analysis

5.    What is the purified form of nutrients?

Ans: Casein, urea or purified soybean protein for protein; starch, glucose or sucrose for carbohydrate; oils or lards as source of fat; chemically pure salts as minerals; pure crystalline compounds as vitamins.