Forage In Ruminant Nutrition

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.

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

From the Preface The objective of this book is to review the basic knowledge and methodology of feeding grazing ruminants in tropical and semitropical countries. It is hoped this information will be of use to farmers, research specialists, teachers, students, extension specialists, feed manufacturers, and others throughout the world concerned with the nutrition of grazing ruminants. A unique feature is the identification of nutritional limitations of grazing ruminants in the tropics, which will be beneficial for increasing animal production efficiency through the application of improved nutrition. A large number of photographs illustrate nutritional deficiencies and conditions in tropical countries. This book contains 18 chapters concerned with the nutrition of grazing ruminants. The first chapter deals with the contributions, locations, and various types of ruminants and their importance to human welfare in the tropics and subtropics. Chapters 2 - 4 progress through nutrient requirements of grazing ruminants in warm climates, the effects of tropical heat on these requirements, and water requirements for ruminant species. Chapters 5 - 7 discuss grass and legume forage species suitable for tropical regions, pasture management procedures, and energy-protein supplementation programs needed during the extensive dry periods. The importance of tropical forages and soils toward meeting mineral requirements is discussed in Chapter 8. Chapters 9 -14 contain concise, up-to-date summaries of minerals emphasizing mineral status, incidence of mineral deficiencies and excesses in tropical regions, and benefits and methods of mineral supplementation for grazing ruminants are discussed in Chapters 15 - 17. Chapter 18 reviews vitamin nutrition considerations for ruminants consuming tropical forages.

Recent Developments in Ruminant Nutrition presents papers that discuss the advancement of the different areas of ruminant nutrition. The book is comprised of 20 chapters that cover topics, such as reproduction, diet, and nutrition. The coverage of the text includes growth stimulation in ruminants; protein quantity and quality for the U.K. dairy cow; and complete-diet feeding of dairy cows. The book also covers rumen fermentation related topics, such as influence of nitrogen and carbohydrate inputs on rumen fermentation; aspects of the biochemistry of rumen fermentation and their implication in ruminant productivity; and manipulation of rumen fermentation. The text will be of great use to researchers and professionals in the animal husbandry industry.

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.

Forages: The Science of Grassland Agriculture, 7th Edition, Volume II will extensively evaluate the current knowledge and information on forage agriculture. Chapters written by leading researchers and authorities in grassland agriculture are aggregated under section themes, each one representing a major topic within grassland science and agriculture. This 7th edition will include two new additional chapters covering all aspects of forage physiology in three separate chapters, instead of one in previous editions. Chapters will be updated throughout to include new information that has developed since the last edition. This new edition of the classic reference serves as a comprehensive supplement to An Introduction to Grassland Agriculture, Volume I.