eChapters

Principle

Carbohydrates are divided into two groups i.e., crude fibre (CF) and nitrogen free extractives (NFE). The NFE comprises the sugars, starch and a large part of the material classed as hemicellulose.

The NFE is not determined by analytical procedures. This is calculated as the figure obtained when the sum of water, ash, protein, fat and crude fibre of a feed is subtracted from 100. Since the figure is determined by difference, it includes the cumulative errors of the other determinations and thus it is not an exact value.

Requirement

Following analysed volumes of a feedstuff are very much essential to derive the nitrogen free extractives of the same feedstuff.

Calculation
The nitrogen free extractives can be derived from the following formula:

Principle

Phosphorus is the chief acid forming mineral constituent of plant and feeds. Phosphorus present in the ash solution (Mineral extract) is precipitated as ammonium phosphomolybedate. The precipitate is washed with dilute potassium nitrate till free from acid and dissolved in a known excess of standard sodium hydroxide solution. The excess alkali is back titrated against standard acid to arrive at the exact quantity of standard solution required.

Principle

    Inorganic salts are relativity insoluble in aromatic solvents which has been detrimental to the estimation of 45Calcium by scintillation counting. This technique inolves the counting of 45Calcium as calcium 2-ethyl hexanoate in a solution of toluene phosphor; and the counting as calcium chloride in a tertiary mixture of absolute ethyl alcohol-hydrochloric acid-toluene-phosphor.

Reagents
    1.    ⁴⁵Calcium. A ⁴⁵Calcium solution supplied as calcium chloride in hydrochloric acid solution, is suitably diluted.
    2.    Calcium chloride, 0.045 N, is prepared by dissolving ACS grade calcium carbonate, dried to constant weight at 110ºC, in 5 N hydrochloric acid.
    3.    Calcium acetate, citrate, lactate, acid phosphate, chloride and hydroxide.
    4.    Ammonium oxalate solution, 4 percent
    5.    2-Ethyl-hexanoic acid.
    6.    Toluene-diphenyloxazole solution, 2g of diphenyloxazole are dissolved in 500 ml of toluene.

In spite of its high protein (CP, 34-36%) content, castor bean meal as such is not used as livestock feed due to the presence of toxic factors viz., ricin, ricinine and allergen. Of the three, ricin is the most detrimental to animals. In order to detoxify the castor cake, a number of physical and chemical methods are employed. The efficacy of the treatments is assessed, based on the qualitative and quantitative changes in ricin content. Of all the detoxification methods, autoclaving (15 p.s.i., 60 min) and lime (4% w/w) treatments completely destroy the toxin. (Anandan et. al., 2005).

Estimation of Ricin

The raw and detoxified samples can be analysed for the toxin, ricin as per the method of Kabat et al. (1947) with modifications as suggested by Waller and Negi (1958).

Extraction of Ricin

The solvent extracted castor cake sample of 500 g is extracted with 2.5 l of water acidified with HCl to a pH of 3.8 by shaking the contents in a conical flask for 6 h. The contents are allowed to settle and are then filtered trough Whatman filter paper No.1 . The residue is treated with 1.5 l of distilled water, shaken for 3 h and filtered through the same paper. A second treatment with water is given to the residue and filtered again through the same filterpaper.

This filtrate contains all the ricin and portions of ricinine that are soluble in cold, dilute HCI. It is evaporated to a small volume by vacuum distillation below 40 °C. The filtrate is saturated with sodium chloride and centrifuged at 4000 rpm for 20 min. to separate the precipitate containing only ricin.

Principle

Nucleic acids leaving the rumen are mainly of microbial origin which are extensively digested in the small intestine and the purines liberated are absorbed. Only a small amount of absorbed purines are utilized by the host animal, the rest are metabolised forming hypoxanthine, xanthine, uric acid and allantoin. These metabolites are excreted mainly through urine. Therefore, with the understanding of how urinary excretion of purine derivatives (PD) respond to purine absorption i.e. the response curve of PD excretion to purine input into intestines, the microbial purine outflow from the rumen and the microbial N supply to the ruminant animal can be estimated by measuring the purine derivatives excretion through urine.

(Method of Hyden 1955a,b)
I. Use of Polyethylene Glycol (PEG)

These compounds are manufactured through the reaction of ethylene oxide with water, ethylene glycol or diethylene glycol to furnish functional  groups (in this case hydroxyl) for the propagation of the reaction. The process results in a mixture of diols of different chain lengths, in which the numbers of molecules of various sizes are presumed to be represented by Poisson’s distribution (Shaffer, Critchfield and Nair, 1950b). Polyethylene glycols 200, 300, 400 and 600 are fluids: compounds 1,000, 1,500, 4000, 6000 and 1,0000 are solids of increasing firmness. PEG compounds of molecular weight above 1000 are not absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract of the rat and man.

Polyethylene glycol has been used frequently as a water soluble marker in studies of absorption in man and animals (Sperber et al., 1953; Hyden, 1955a,b; Corbett et al., 1956; Gray et al., 1960; Weller et al., 1962; Ulyatt, 1964a,b; Walker and Hawley, 1965; Tulloh et al., 1965; Sinha et al., 1970; Nagel and Piatkowshi, 1972).

Principle
Total ash is the inorganic residue which remains after a feed stuff is ignited to carbon free at 550-600oC in a muffle furnace. In other words, ash is that part of the material which does not disappear at 550-600ºC, while all the organic matter (OM) gets burnet.

Requirement
    1.    Analytical balance
    2.     Asbestos sheet
    3.     Dessicator
    4.     Heater /gas flame burner
    5.     Metal tongs
    6.     Muffle furnace
    7.     Silica basin/crucibles

(Method of Saryre, 1963 and IAEA, 1969)
Introduction

This technique helps in detection of very small amount of stable elements in fairly large quantitites of extraneous matter. Trace elements like zinc, copper, molybdenum and arsenic which exist in minute amounts in certain organs or tissues. For example, to detect the amount of copper present in one gram of tissue. using 1 mg of thin copper foil as control. Normal copper contains 69 percent ⁶³Cu and 31 percent ⁶⁵Cu. The (n,r) reactions on these two stable isotope produce ⁶⁴Cu and ⁶⁶Cu respectively. The half life of ⁶⁴Cu is 12.8 h and that of ⁶⁶Cu is five minutes. Therefore the latter can be ignored, if more than that an hour elapses between the end of the irradiation and the measurement. The specific activity of the unknown separate is compared with that of the known standard separate, and the content of Cu in the original tissue sample is thereby calculated.

Estrus is referred to as the period of estrous cycle during which the female animal allows the male for mating. It is the period of estrous cycle during which insemination is done to female animal so that the animal will become pregnant. During estrus, cow usually seeks out the male and ’stands’ for him to mate her. In all domestic species, Ovulation occurs during this phase of the cycle but in case of cow, ovulation occurs about 12 hours after the end of estrus period.

Apparatus and Reagents

    1.    Soxhlet extraction asembly. This consists of 3 parts (a) condenser at the top, (b) the soxhlet or extractor in the middle, and (c) the receiver flask at the bottom. The 3 parts are assembled by means of their grounds glass interchangeable joints (Fig. 1).

    2.    Extraction thimble.

    3.    Petroleum ether (B.P. 40ºC to 60ºC)

    4.    Constant temperatue bath or six heater hot plate with temperature controlling device.

All scientists working with laboratory animals must have a deep ethical consideration for the animals they are dealing with. From the ethical point of view it is important that such considerations are taken care at the individual level, at Institutional level and finally at the national level.

Individually each investigator has an obligation to abide by all the ethical guidelines laid down in this regard at institutional level. The Head of the institution, maintaining animals for scientific experiments , should constitute an animal ethics committee on animal experimentation to ensure that all experiments conducted on animals are rational , do not cause undue pain or suffering to the animals and only minimum number of animals are used. The constitution and term of reference of the animal ethic committee should be well defined.

An animal ethic committee should include: a senior biological scientist of the institute, two scientists from different biological disciplines, a veterinarian involved in care of animals, the scientist in charge of animal facility, a scientist from outside the institute & a nonscientific socially aware member. A specialist may be co-opted while reviewing special projects using hazardous agents such as radioactive substance and deadly micro-organisms etc. The investigator may be called in for any clarification if required.

The ethics committee has to examine all projects involving use of animals before implementation, to ensure that minimum number of animals is used in the project and the ethical guidelines are strictly adhered to. It will also examine that the scientists and technicians handling animals possess adequate skill to perform the experiment. All animals should be maintained under standard living conditions and experiments will be conducted under proper anesthesia and termination of an experiment, the animal will be humanely sacrificed under anesthesia. Before disposal it must be ensured that the animal is clinically dead.

AI-enabled livestock technologies can improve productivity, health monitoring, animal welfare and environmental performance, but they also raise significant ethical and governance concerns. This chapter examines data ownership, privacy, algorithmic bias, transparency, accountability, cybersecurity, socioeconomic inequality and animal well-being. Precision livestock systems continuously monitor animals through sensors, computer vision, machine learning and IoT networks, enabling preventive decisions and automated interventions. However, excessive dependence on algorithms may reduce human oversight and treat animals merely as data-producing units. The chapter advocates an interdisciplinary framework for responsible AI that aligns innovation with animal-welfare standards, farmer interests, social values, equitable access, regulatory requirements and long-term environmental sustainability.

Introduction

Harshberger first used the term ethnobotany in 1895-96, for the plants used by the local tribes and people, for their basic needs and requirements. They also used plant, plant parts and plant products for animal healthcare and other practices. This indigenous or traditional animal health care practice is called ethnoveterinary medicine. Ethnoveterinary medicine is defined as a holistic comprehension of the indigenous systems of animal health, their interpretation through western medicine and the development of effective and appropriate technologies (McCorkle 1986). McCorkle et al. (1989) define Ethnoveterinary medicine (EVM) as dealing with the folk beliefs, knowledge, skills, methods and practices pertaining to the health care of animals. McCorkle et al. (1996) give a description of ethnoveterinary medicinal research as the holistic interdisciplinary study of the local knowledge and the socio-cultural structures and environment associated with animal health care and husbandry.
 
EVM consists of local people’s knowledge pertaining to animal health and production. According to Mathias (1996 & 2002), it includes:

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 question

1.    What is Gross Energy?

Ans: Gross energyistheamount of heat givenoffwhen a substance is completelyburntor oxidizedtooxidationproducts like carbon dioxide,waterandothergases ina bombcalorimeter containing 25-30 atmospheric oxygen psi.

2.    What is BTU?

Ans: It istheamount of energyas heat required toraise temperature of 1 pound of water by 10F

3.    What is Heat Increment (HI)?

Ans: The increase in heat production after the ingestion of feed when the animal is in a thermoneutral environment is known as heat increment.

4.    Why digestible energy (DE) is called apparent DE?

Ans: It is calledapparent because thefaecalenergyincludes energy of undigested feed; microbial cell residues spent digestive enzymes and abraded intestinal mucosa (FEm).

5.    WhyME values are higher in non-ruminants than ruminants?

A. Answer the following question

1.    Writethe two assumptions whicharetaken into consideration during CP estimation of any feedstuff?

Ans: In the feed, a) all N is present as protein and b) All food protein contains 16%nitrogen.

2.    What is protein equivalent?

Ans: It is the arithmetic mean of the percentage of DCP and DTP (digestible true protein).

The potential value of any feed for supplying a particular nutrient can be determined by chemical analysis but the actual value of the feed to the animal can arrived at only after making allowances for inevitable losses that occur during digestion, absorption and metabolism. The first tax imposed on feed is that represented by the part of it which is not absorbed and excreted in the feces.

Introduction

Nutritive value of any food indicates the calories content as well as quality attributes. Macronutrients such as carbohydrates, fats and proteins provide energy by4-9-4 rule. It meanstheyprovide 4,9 and 4 kcal/genergy, respectively, when oxidized completely. Though micronutrientssuch as vitaminsandminerals do not provide any calories, they are essential for the enzymatic activity and metabolic reactions.

ATP or energy is measured in terms of ‘calories’ or ‘joule’. One calorie is the amount of heat required by 1g of water to increase its temperature from 14.5 to 15.5°C under standard conditions. Nutritive value of any food can be measured on shelf usingcalorimeter, in which food is completelyoxidized under specified conditions and converted into CO₂ and water.

Quality of silage is determined by nutrients content and intake potential of the silage. High quality silage is a stable feed, made from high quality pasture, which is preserved in the absence of oxygen by a high quality fermentation, to minimize any loss of feeding value. It is not possible to produce high quality silage from low quality pasture, no matter how good the fermentation is. The silage quality is generally used to indicate the success of fermentation and not to evaluate the feeding value of the silage. However, the fermentation quality and nutritional value of the silage are usually highly correlated because a poor fermentation can result in great loss of the digestible nutrients (Sutoh et al., 1970; Uchida and Sutoh, 1973). Therefore, both the quality of the ensiled pasture and the quality of the fermentation must be considered.

Deviation from normal well being may be for various kinds involving one or more organs and exhibiting array of symptoms. Examination of animals for diagnosis of disease is strenuous process because investigator has just got to know by several means of examination. The evidences produced by owner, animal house, feed being provided supported by prevailing environment and climate are immensely helpful in accurate diagnosis. Diagnosis, of production related diseases, is more difficult because of biasness in history revealed by the owner. At the same time diagnoses of poisonings are also not easy because owner’s description about possible cause and symptoms exhibited by sick animals are vague. So careful quizzing of owner about each and every aspect of disease and animal obviously seems to be first step towards diagnosis, followed by examination of animal. Examination of environment in relation to history revealed by owner and observations drawn from the examination of animal can infer some conclusion about cause of disease. Support of laboratory examinations such as fecal test, blood test and urinalysis are important tools in disease investigation. Following steps are essential in disease diagnosis.