Forage Evaluation In Ruminant Nutrition

Current pressures to maximise the use of forages in ruminant diets have renewed interest in fast, inexpensive methods for the estimation of their nutritional value. As a result, a wide variety of biological and physiochemical procedures have recently been investigated for this purpose.This book is the single definitive reference volume on the current status of research in this areaCovers all forages eaten by ruminant animals

Forage in Ruminant Nutrition is the 12th text in a series of books about animal feeing and nutrition. The series is intended to keep readers updated on the developments occurring in these fields. As it is apparent that ruminant animals are important throughout the world because of the meat and milk they produce, knowledge about the feeds available to ruminants must also be considered for increased production and efficiency. This text provides information that readers will find considerably invaluable about forage feeds, such as grass, legumes, hay, and straw. The book is composed of 16 chapters that feature the following concepts of ruminant forage feeding: • composition of ruminant products and the nutrients required for maintenance and reproduction; • energy and nutrient available in forage: calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, sodium, copper, iodine, zinc, manganese, selenium, and cobalt; • intake of forage by housed ruminants; • grazing; • forage digestibility; • protein in ruminant nutrition; • protein and other nutrient deficiencies. This volume will be an invaluable reference for students and professionals in agricultural chemistry and grassland and animal husbandry researches.

For ranchers, veterinarians, and others concerned with the nutrition of cattl and other domestic ruminants, draws information from both plant and animal sciences to present a guide to more efficient foraging practices. Considers which nutrients are likely to be deficient in grazed and conserved for

Deals with feed evaluation systems, the nutrient requirements of ruminant livestock and the feeding value of a wide range of feedstuffs. This book lists about 800 typical forages, 65 crop residues and 120 concentrate and by-product feeds. It is suitable for teachers, specialist scientists and industrialists.

This monumental text-reference places in clear persepctive the importance of nutritional assessments to the ecology and biology of ruminants and other nonruminant herbivorous mammals. Now extensively revised and significantly expanded, it reflects the changes and growth in ruminant nutrition and related ecology since 1982. Among the subjects Peter J. Van Soest covers are nutritional constraints, mineral nutrition, rumen fermentation, microbial ecology, utilization of fibrous carbohydrates, application of ruminant precepts to fermentive digestion in nonruminants, as well as taxonomy, evolution, nonruminant competitors, gastrointestinal anatomies, feeding behavior, and problems fo animal size. He also discusses methods of evaluation, nutritive value, physical struture and chemical composition of feeds, forages, and broses, the effects of lignification, and ecology of plant self-protection, in addition to metabolism of energy, protein, lipids, control of feed intake, mathematical models of animal function, digestive flow, and net energy. Van Soest has introduced a number of changes in this edition, including new illustrations and tables. He places nutritional studies in historical context to show not only the effectiveness of nutritional approaches but also why nutrition is of fundamental importance to issues of world conservation. He has extended precepts of ruminant nutritional ecology to such distant adaptations as the giant panda and streamlined conceptual issues in a clearer logical progression, with emphasis on mechanistic causal interrelationships. Peter J. Van Soest is Professor of Animal Nutrition in the Department of Animal Science and the Division of Nutritional Sciences at the New York State College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell University.

Feedstuff Evaluation contains the proceedings of the 50th University of Nottingham Easter School in Agricultural Sciences, held at Sutton Bonington in July 1989. The book presents papers discussing a wide range of topics on the accurate evaluation of feedstuffs for livestock. Initially, systems of expressing the nutritive value of feeds are considered. Modifications to feeding value as influenced by animal factors including intake and palatability are discussed. Specific dietary ingredients, being plant polysaccharides, fats, minerals and vitamins are detailed. Prediction of the nutritive value of compound feeds and individual feeds through classical wet chemistry and the more recent NIR is assuming considerable importance in the rapid evaluation of diets. Associated with these developments is an appreciation of the relevance of both inter- and intra-laboratory variation in determinations. Finally, the need to collate information into an interactive data-base is being actively pursued. It is evident that safety of animal feeds is becoming an increasingly topical issue and the last session considered the relevance of naturally-occurring toxic factors, residues, mycotoxins and, finally, animal pathogens. Veterinarians, farmers, farm administrators, and those involved in every aspect of nutrient supply to animals will find the compendium very insightful and informative.