Applied Animal Nutrition

Nutrient categories:

Definition:

Nutrient is a dietary essential for one or more species of animals.

Not all animals required the same nutrient for example ruminants have
quite different requirements to non-ruminant.

All of the known nutrient are in one of following categories:

 Protein

 Carbohydrates

 Lipids

 Minerals

 Vitamins

 Water

Protein:

Is composed of amino acids.

There are over 100 known amino acid in the plants but only 20 amino
acids make up animal protein.

Of these 10 can formed in the tissues the others must be provided in the
diet .

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Essential amino acids non essential amino acids

Arginine Alanine

Histidine ` Aspartic acid

Isoleucine leucine Cysteine

Lysine Cystine

Methionine Glutamic acid

Phenyle alanine Glycine

Therionine Proline

Tryptophan Syrine

Valine Tyrosine

All amino acids contain nitrogen as part of the amino group.

In general proteins contain about 16 % nitrogen.

The protein content of feed can be measured by determining the nitrogen

content and multiplying by 6.25.

Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates Are the products of photosynthesis in plants.

The plant tissues convert carbon dioxide and water to sugar, using solar
energy trapped by the chlorophyll in chloroplasts.

The basic unit of Carbohydrates structure is sugar such as glucose.

More complex Carbohydrates such as cellulose and starch are composed

of large number of sugar molecules joint together.

The main Carbohydrates in feed are starch, cellulose and hemicelluloses.

Starch is a readily digested carbohydrates stored in plant seeds.

Cereal grains and some roots and tubers are high in starch.

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 Cellulose and hemicelluloses are major component of plant fiber, Like
roughages and agricultural by products.

Lipids:

Lipids are the substances in plant and animal tissues that are soluble in
organic solvents like ether.

The principals lipids of importance in animal nutrition are fats and oils.

Fats are usually of animal origin, where as oils are from plants and
marine animals.

Fats and oils are composed of glycerol and three fatty acids and are often
refers to as triglycerides.

The fatty acid s are of two type:

saturated and unsaturated fatty acids.

Saturated fatty acids have no double bonds, thus they are saturated with
hydrogen.

Unsaturated fatty acids have one or more double bonds, which mean
they are capable of taking up hydrogen.

Hydrogenation is the process of converting an unsaturated fatty acids to a

saturated one by addition of hydrogen.

In ruminant animals, hydrogenation of unsaturated fatty acids occurs in

the rumen, with the result that the body fat of ruminant contains saturated
fatty acids.

The properties of a triglycerides are determined by the fatty acid of which

it is composed.

Fats have higher proportion of fatty acids than oils, which are
predominantly unsaturated fatty acids.

The degree of instauration affects the melting point of the lipids

saturated fatty acids are usually solid at room temperature, whereas, those
with unsaturated fatty acids are usually liquid at room temperature.

The shorter the carbon chain of fatty acids, the lower it is melting point.
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Minerals:

Various mineral elements are dietary essential for animals.

Some of them are required in relatively large quantities, these are the
macro elements.

Others are needed in very small amount and is referred to as the trace
elements.

Macro minerals generally function as component of tissue structure.

trace elements function as activators or cofactors of enzymes.

several other elements such as silicon, nickel, vanadium and tin may be
essential, but they are not of a practical importance because a deficiency
can only be demonstrated with highly purified diet.

Vitamins:

There are many facts about vitamins:

 It is an organic nutrient (distinct from the other organic nutrients

like protein , carbohydrates and lipids)

 It is required in an extremely small quantities in the diet.

 It is essential for normal metabolism.

 When it is absent from the diet or not present in adequate

quantities, a specific deficiency symptoms develops.

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  It cannot normally be synthesized in the animal’s body and
therefore is a dietary essential, but with many exceptions:

 Vitamin D can be synthesized by animals exposed to sunlight.

Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) can be synthesized by most animals except

guinea pig and some breed such fruit eating bat.

The animal whose diet contains fruit may lose the enzyme necessary for
synthesis of vitamin C, because it is in their diet.

Vitamins can be classified into two groups, fat soluble and water
solube

Water soluble Fat soluble

Thiamin B1 Vitamin A

Riboflavin (B2) Vitamin D

Pyridoxine (B6) Vitamin E

Cyanocobalamin (B12) Vitamin K

Panthonic acid

Nicotinic acid (Niacin)

Folic acid (Folicin)

Biotin

Choline

Vitamin C (ascorbic acid)

Fat soluble vitamins are stored in fatty tissues of the body and poorly
secreted, so long period of time on a deficient diet is needed for a
deficiency of fat-soluble vitamins to occur.

In contrast, water soluble vitamins are readily execrated in the urine , if

they are not provided in the diet, they rapidly become deficient because
they are poorly stored in the body.

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Water:

Water is regarded by many nutritionists as the most important nutrient.

Water does not totally fit the definition of a nutrient because it is not
required in the diet, but it is usually consumed separately.

Nutrient function:

1- Structural function:

Some nutrients function primary in making up the structure of animal

body:

 Muscle tissues is composed largely from protein and water.

 Fats have structural role with protein in making up lipoprotein.

 Bones composed of protein that become mineralized with calcium

and phosphorous

 Carbohydrates are component of glycoprotein, which are

constituent of connective tissues

2- Source of energy:

All animals require a source of energy. Energy is used in locomotion and

thermoregulation.

There is a large requirement for tissue maintenance and for production.

Energy in feed is expressed in calories.

A calorie is defined as the amount of heat required to raise the

temperature of 1 gram of water by 1 degree centigrade.

Some time a joule is used instead of calorie: a calorie is equal to 4.184

joules.

The main nutrient categories that provide animal with energy are
carbohydrates and lipids.

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 Glucose is metabolized in a series of biochemical reaction, during which
chemical is released as adenosine tri-phosphate, which in turn is used as
the fuel for driving other reactions.

The overall reaction of cellular metabolism is

C6H12O6 + 6O2 + ADP = ATP + heat + 6CO2 + 6H2O

Protein can be metabolized to yield energy , this is undesirable because it

is expensive source of energy than carbohydrates.

3- Regulatory functions:

Most of the required nutrient function in the regulation of cellular

metabolism.

Sodium, potassium and chlorine function in fluid balance.

Vitamins and most minerals function as cofactors or co activators of

enzymes.

Classification of feed stuffs

 Feed stuffs can be classified according to some of their general

properties.

 Feed stuffs can be classified as either concentrates or roughages.

 Concentrates have low fiber content and a high content of either

energy or protein or both.

Cereal grains for example, are considered as energy source, but also
contribute a significant amount to protein.

Protein source are products with more than 20 % crude protein, like by-
products of oil seed crops.

Roughages are bulky material with high fiber content and low nutrient
density.

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Classification of feed:

1.Energy source concentrate

Cereal grains: corn, sorghum, barley and rye

Grain milling by-products: wheat bran, , root and tubers.

Food processing by-products: molasses, citrus pulp and distillers.

2.Protein source concentrates:

Oil seed meals: cotton seed, soybean, peanut, sun flower meal, corn
gluten meal.

Grain legumes: beans, peas and lupins

Animal proteins: meat meal, fish meal, whey, feather meal

Nitrogen source: non-protein nitrogen, dried poultry waste

3.Roughages:

pastures, grasses, legumes forages, silage

Dry forages: hay, straw, Stover

4.Feed additives:

 Minerals
 vitamins
 drugs
 enzymes
 hormones and flavors.

Energy source:

Cereal grains:

Cereals are members of the grass family (Graminae).

Grains are edible seeds.

They are the primary energy source for human and mono-gastric animals.

General structure of grains:

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The seeds consist of:

 Plant embryo (germ)

 The endosperm
 The outside protective layers.

The out layers are hull, which is high in fiber and protect seed mechanical
damage and invasion by pathogens.

The endosperm consists of starch the embryo is high in oil protein and
other nutrients.

Corn (maize)

It is native in America.

Corn is the world’s most important feed grain for the reason related to
both agronomic features and nutritive values.

Corn is adapted to a wide range of climate and environment Corn can

produce more energy per acre than any other grain.

Corn has C4 photosynthetic pathway.

The C4 plants have a tropical origin and more productive than C3 plants.

The term C4 means that the first product of photosynthetic reaction are
compounds with four carbon atoms malic or aspartic acid.

Where as in C3 first product of photosynthetic reaction are compounds

with three carbon atoms (phosphogelycreic acid).

C4 plants use carbon dioxide and water more efficiently and use nitrogen
for dry matter accumulation with at least twice the efficiency of C3 plants.

Corn is cereal grain with the highest digestible energy content for animal
and has no toxic or deleterious factors.

In addition to grain corn can produce large amount of leaves and stalks.

Nutrient content:

Energy

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Corn is a high energy grain because it is high in starch and oil and low in
fiber.

The starch consists of two types: amylase and amylopectin.

These are both consists of glucose.

Amylase is strait chain of glucose

where as amylopectin is a branched structure.

Regular corn consists of about 25% amylase and 75% amylopectin.

Digestion and metabolism of corn carbohydrates:

In non-ruminant the starch of corn is highly digested.

It is digested in small intestine by enzymes such as amylase.

The result is that the starch is degraded to glucose and is absorbed in

small intestine to the blood.

The absorbed glucose is the primary energy source:

C6H12O6 + 6O2 + ADP ATP + 6CO2 + 6 H2O + heat

In ruminant, corn starch is subject to microbe fermentation producing

VFAs as end products.

The principal VFA produced is propionic acid which absorbed directly

from the rumen.

Starch digestion is less efficient in rumen than in small intestine

because some of the energy is lost via gasses such as methane and carbon
dioxide.

The starch digested in small intestine has 42 % more energetic value to

the animal than starch digested in the rumen.

If starch could escape rumen digestion and could be digested in small

intestine (post ruminal starch digestion), the efficiency of ruminant could
be improved.

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With high grain diets, production of large quantity of VFA would cause
the intestinal pH to be lowering below the optimum level of amylase
enzyme, so some buffer like lime stone could improve starch digestibility
in small intestine.

But Huntinhton (1997). Reported that it is more important to maximize

rumen fermentation of starch for It is beneficial effects on protein
utilization than to maximize ruminal by-pass of starch

The advantages of high oil corn include:

 Higher energy content.

 Better feed conversion efficiency.
 Less dust in feed mills.
 Improve feed pellet quality.

Protein:

Corn grain has a low protein content than other grain ranging from 8-
10%.

Corn grain protein is recognized a poor in quality , being deficient in

lysine and tryptophan and low in methionine.

The poor protein quality of corn due to the fact that it has a high content
of protein called prolamine.

Prolamine has very low lysine content and almost no tryptophan content.

Vitamins:

Yellow corn has a significant vitamin A.

it is yellow color due to it is carotinoid pigments.

With the main one is being beta carotene.

Beta carotene is two molecule of vitamin A joined together.

There is an enzyme in animal tissues can split these two molecules to

liberate vitamin A.

there are differences between species and breed in conversion carotene to

vitamin A.

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for example jersey and jernesy exhibit low conversion efficiency so their
body and milk fat are yellow because of their carotene content.

Cattle are much less efficient than goats in conversion carotene to vitamin
A.

Corn has a low content of available niacin.

Niacin can be synthesized by most animal form the amino acid

tryptophan, in which corn is also deficient.

With respect to other vitamin, corn is a fair source of vitamin E and low
in vitamin D and B -complex.

Minerals

As in other cereal grains corn contains very little calcium.

Corn is moderately high in phosphorous.

But most of this phosphorous is not available for non ruminant because it
is in an organic form called phytate.

Grains contain substance called phytic acid in which six molecules of

phosphorous groups binds, forming an unavailable complex.

So in ration formulation for chicks, phosphorous in corn is ignored.

Phytate is digested by microbial phytase in the rumen, so organic

phosphorous is bio available for ruminant.

Deleterious factors in corn:

Unlike most feedstuffs, corn does not contain toxic or deleterious

compound.

some times it is contaminated with aflatoxin.

Corn could be infected in the field and in storage.

The aflatoxin may reduce feed intake, poor growth and diarrhea and the
chronic causing liver damage.

Also aflatoxin may cause liver cancer.

Grain sorghum:
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Sorghum is the major food grains in arid and semiarid tropics.

In the developed countries 96 % of the total sorghum grown for animal

feed, whereas in the developing countries, only 8 % is used for livestock ,
with the rest used directly in human food.

Sorghum bicolor is a hardly drought resistant adapted for environmental

condition too harsh for corn.

Like corn sorghum is a C4 plant, accounting for it is high productivity

and tolerance to high temperature.

Uses :

Sorghum is used in the following :

1- food for human .

2- the grain sorghum is a better or the best feed for livestock due to :

A- the grain has more protein and fat .

B- the grain is highly palatable to livestock

C- intake seldom limits livestock prodectivity

D- improving the protein digested .

3-grain sorghum may be used as whole plant silage .

4- some quantities of grain sorghum go into industry like Starch / oil .

5 the grain is also a main source to manufacture of alcohol and the

biogas.

Compound Percent
Dry meter 90.1
ME 3021
CP 11.1
Fat 4.5
C.F 1.7
Ash 1.4
Ca 0.3
P 0.26
meth 0.27

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lys 0.22

Nutrient content:

Energy:

Grain sorghum is quite similar to corn in it is composition.

The endosperm is composed primary of starch.

The starch consists of two types: amylase and amylopectin.

These are both consists of glucose.

Amylase is strait chain of glucose where a, amylopectin is a branched

structure. Regular sorghum consists of about 25% amylase and 75%
amylopectin.

Nutrient content:

Energy:

Grain sorghum is quite similar to corn in it is composition.

The endosperm is composed primary of starch.

The starch consists of two types: amylase and amylopectin.

These are both consists of glucose.

Amylase is strait chain of glucose where a, amylopectin is a branched

structure. Regular sorghum consists of about 25% amylase and 75%
amylopectin.

So processing methods must be done to disrupt the peripheral endosperm.

Traditional methods of preparing sorghum for food in Africa involve

fermentation and cooking with acid to help in disrupts the peripheral
endosperm.

Protein:

Like corn, sorghum is fairly poor in protein ranged from 8 to 10 %.

The quality of the protein is poor. The protein of sorghum has high
prolamine content.
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 For mono-gastric, lysine is the first limiting amino acid followed by
therionine, tryptophan, methionine and isoleucine.

Tannins in sorghum reduce protein availability.

Tannins inhibit digestive enzymes and form complexes with protein that
resist digestion.

Other nutrients:

Sorghum has no unusual vitamin or mineral characteristics.

All grains have low calcium, high phytate phosphorous, no vitamin B 12

and little significant vitamin A.

Deleterious factors:

The principal deleterious factor in sorghum is condensed tannin, in the

digestive tract tannins may react with digestive enzymes to reduce
digestibility.

Various processing methods can be used to overcome the effect of

sorghum tannins.

Treatment with an alkali such as sodium or ammonium hydroxide is

effective.

Also polyethylene glycol which form complexes with tannins, has shown
to be effective additive to improve the feeding value of high tannin
sorghum.

Wheat

Wheat is the world’s most important crop.

It is grown principally for human consumption.

Nutrient content:

Energy:

Wheat is identical to corn in digestible energy content.

The starch of wheat is rapidly digested, so it is more likely to cause

digestive disturbance than corn.

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Protein:

Wheat is superior than corn in term of it is protein content and quality.

The protein content range from 10- 12 %

Also like other grain lysine is the most limiting amino acid followed by
therionine and methionine.

Deleterious factors:

No deleterious effect and not normally infected in the field with

mycotoxine.

Use of wheat in animal diet:

Generally wheat is very expensive to be competitive as a livestock feed.

Producers prefer to sell wheat for human consumption than for animal
feed.

Wheat is equal to corn as animal feed.

Wheat is lower essential fatty acids than corn.

For ruminant, lactic acidosis is more common with wheat based diet than
other grain because of the rapid fermentation of wheat starch in the diet.

The gluten protein in wheat becomes sticky when moist.

So wheat and wheat by-products improve pellet quality causing

ingredient stick together.

Barley:

Ranks fourth among world crops.

Nutrient content:

Energy:

Barley is lower than corn or sorghum in energy content particularly for

non-ruminant.

The lower energy value of barley due lower starch content, a higher
content of poorly digested glucans and high fiber content.

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Barely contain water soluble carbohydrates called B glucans, which are
poorly digested.The glucans are completely digested by microbial
enzymes in the rumen.

Protein:

Barley is superior to corn and sorghum in it is protein in term of quality

and quantity.

The crude protein in barley ranged from 11-13 %.

Lysine is limiting amino acid followed by therionine.

Minerals:

Phosphorous in barley is bound as phytate.

Low phytic acid barely varrities has been developed, which improves
calcium and phosphorous utilization and growth performance in non-
ruminant.

Use of barely in animal diet:

The employing of barley in non-ruminant diet always is limited by it is

content of beta glucans, which reduce the application of barely as high
energy diet.

The addition of 20% of wheat to barely based diet may improve the feed
intake and growth rate of poultry.

Processing of barley for ruminant diet has variable results.

Dry rolling can produce fine particles which may be fermented very
rapidly causing digestive disorders.

Steam rolling gives improved animal performance.

Cereal milling by products:

It is by product of processing cereal grain for human consumption

Wheat milling by products:

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In wheat milling the endosperm is separated from other fraction of seed.
The endosperm consists mainly of starch and gluten.

The outermost layer of seed is highest of fiber, and when removed

constitute most of the plant bran fraction.

The aleron layer is just beneath bran layer in the seed and consists of fiber
and protein.

It is a layer of thick wall cells, containing the enzymes that digest starch
in the sprouting seeds.

The wheat germ is at the base of the seed and high in fat, vitamins and
protein.

the germ contains the embryonic wheat plant, where as, the endosperm is
a starch reserve to provide energy for germination.

Wheat bran is quite palatable and is known for it is ability to prevent

constipation because for it is swelling and water holding capacity.

Bran has an amino acid balance superior to that of whole wheat.

Wheat bran like other milling by-products, has a very high phosphorous
content and very low calcium, the results imbalance in

calcium: phosphorous ratio.

Low calcium and high phosphorous in the diet will cause a condition
called nutritional parathyroidism.

The high phosphorous level stimulates parathyroid gland to increase

secretion of parathyroid hormone, and parathyroid hormone stimulates
secretion of phosphorous by kidney.

Also stimulate the mobilization of calcium from bones, resulting in

bones being dematerialized and fibrotic.

The dematerialized and fibrotic bones enlarges and is refers to as big

head In horses.

Because of bulky nature, and high fiber content, bran are not usually fed
to poultry or swine, but it is suitable for ruminant and nonruminant
animals like horses and rabbits.
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Bran and other milfeeds are good sources of water soluble vitamins
except niacin, which is in an unavailable form. Much of phosphorous
exist as phytate.

Processing procedure can increase the digestibility of mill feeds. Pelleting

wheat bran ruptures the aleurone layer cells and improve digestibility.
Treatments with cellultic enzymes improve bran utilization.

Corn mill feed:

When corn is dry milled, the major product as are corn meal, hominy,
grits and flour. These all used as human consumption. The major corn
milling byproducts is hominy feed. The hominy feed constitutes of bran,
germ and some of the flour. It is higher in protein and fiber that corn
grain.

Hominy is inferior to corn in supporting growth of broiler and adequate

for turkey

A high fat hominy from which the oil has not been extracted, is
equivalent to corn in feeding value.

Rice bran

In areas where rice is produced, rice bran is major by products. It consists

of fibrous out layer of the grain and some hull and chipped grain.

Rice bran has a very high fat content (13 %) that increase it is energy
value to the level of that of the grain itself. It is good source of B
vitamins, protein and amino acids

Rice bran contains factors that promote rancidity, especially under warm
humid conditions, that favor autooxidation.

it is an enzymes that promote oxidation of unsaturated fatty acids.

Rancid feed are unpalatable and potentially toxic.

Rice bran has a high phytae conent and zinc deficiency.

Rice bran has a very high fiber content composed of himocellulose

containing highly branched arabinoxylans (pentosans), addition of
pentosonases may improve utilization of rice bran by poultry.

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Other concentrate energy feed:

Food processing and industrial by products:

Molasses:

Molasses is a residue from sugar refining When cane or beet sugar is

produced.

Sugar cane is a perennial grass with sugar stem and abundant leave.

The stem are pressed to squeeze out the juice.

The fibrous residue of the stalk is called bagass which either burned or
used as low quality feed.

The juice is concentrated by boiling to a solution of a proximately 50%

sucrose.

The juice residue is molasses.

From ton of sugar cane, 100 kg of refined sugar and 50 kg of molasses

are produced.

Molasses composition :

It is difficult to predict the exact composition of cane molasses.

Soil and climatic condition, the variety and maturity of the cane and
processing condition in the factory all effect molasses composition.

Item percentage
Water 20
Sucrose 32
Glucose 14
Fructose 10
Non-sugar materials
Azotic materials 10
Ash 10.5

Uses of molasses

Molasses in general liked by livestock, cattle, sheep and pigs.

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Avery important part of the feeding value of molasses is its ability to
enable animals to eat unpalatable feeds, and this important in times of
shortage of feed.

The usual practice is to dilute the molasses with water and then spry or
mixed with other materials to be eaten.

• Molasses supplies the rumen with rapidly fermentable energy in

the form of sugars, primarily sucrose.

• Sucrose gives a greater microbial protein synthesis than starch.

• Level of molasses in the formulation of diet is very important.

• At low (below20% of dietary DM) the effect of soluble

carbohydrates in molasses tends to be complementary rather than
competitive.

• When molasses account for more than 50% of the diet DM, the
digestibility of all other feed fed with molasses is depressed often
to the point only half the value recorded when molasses is not
given.

• Addition of urea (as a source of animal protein) to molasses

ration is necessary to:

• -Optimization of rumen fermentation

• -Balancing the nutrients available for metabolism

• The following table is for example of molasses ration:

Ingredient percentage
Molasses 40
Wheat bran 22.2
Ground nut cake 5.0
Ground nut hulls 30.0
Urea 1.8
Salt 0.9
Vit/min. supplement 0.1
Total 100

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 • In many developing countries there is abundant supply of molasses
, but it is difficult to transport, stored and handle. Molasses urea
block is one of the strategies for improving feed resources for
ruminant animals especially during the dry season of the year.

Ingredient percentage
molasses 50
uera 10
quicklimes 5
cement 5
Wheat bran 25
salts 5
total 100

The ingredients are mixed by hand and placed in wooden boxes for 15
minites.

In molasses feeding based diet a problem is called molasses toxicity may

developed. Molasses toxicity involves inadequate supply of glucose for
brain.

Inadiquate glucose status occur because molasses fermentation produces

a high proportion of butyrate to propionate as end product.

And because butyrate is ketogenic and propionate is glucogenic, so an

excess butyrate result in shortage in glucose synthesis and shortage of
glucose for brain metabolism.

Also toxicity occur when roughage component of the diet is insufficient

causin brain damge.

Fat and oils:

Fat and oils contain about 2.25 % times as much digestible energy as
carbohydrates.

High energy diet must contains fats to achieve high energy

concentration.

Most fats from animal origin, including tallow (beef) mutton (lamb) and
lard (Pork).

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Because of saturated fatty acids are less absorbed so addition of some
unsaturated improves the digestibility of fats:

Uses of fat in the animal diet:

Added fat is normally used at levels of 3 – 5 % of the diet.

At higher level there are problems in maintaining pellet quality.

Fat can be fed at high level to the no-ruminant.

Diet with 20 – 30 % fat are palatable and readily consumed by poultry

The upper limit of fat inclusion is determined by feed manufactory and

handling problems, not by animal acceptance.

Feed intake is affected by energy concentration

 energy level   feed intake

 energy level   feed intake

Environmental temperature

 Temp.   feed intake

 Temp.   feed intake

When feeding high fat diet the feed intake drops gradually and thus the
concentration of protein and other nutrient must be increased

Problems associated with used of fats and oils:

Lipids containing unsaturated fatty acids are susceptible to development

of rancidity.

In this process hydrogen reacts with double bonds that are chemically
very reactive.

The products of rancidity cause the following:

1. adversely affect palatability

2. toxic

3. cause destructive of many enzyme

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rancidity could be prevented by adding antioxidant to fats and feed.

Vitamin E is mainly antioxidant in addition of a number of synthetic

antioxidant.

Grain overload

Protein source:

Protein supplement are needed to increase the total amount of protein as

well as to satisfy amino acid requirements.

For ruminant, amino acids needs are met by microbial synthesis in the
rumen.

There is a trend to partitioning protein requirement to ruminant into two:

• Fermentable nitrogen for microbes

• Dietary protein which escapes rumen fermentation (non-

degradable, escape, bypass protein)

Oil seed meals:

Oil seed meals are by products of vegetable oil production.

Soybean meal:

Is the most important protein supplements for livestock feeding.

Soybean is an annual legume and is adapted to similar condition to corn.

Deleterious factors:

Raw soybean is toxic to most animals. They contain a variety of toxin

including:

protease inhibitors, phytoestrogen and saponins.

These materials are readily destroyed by heat treatment.

Feeding raw soybean to young animals may cause poor growth, rough
hair and pancreatic enlargement.

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 Protease inhibitors also known as trypsin inhibitors, inhibit pancreatic
enzyme trypsin.

The protelatic enzymes are very important in digestion of protein in small

intestine.

The protease inhibitor are themselves protein, when the trypsin attempt to
digest the protease inhibitors protein, the inhibitor bind to enzyme and
both enzyme and inhibitor are execrated

causing a reduction in protein digestibility and increase loss in enzyme

protein.

The pancreatic gland attempts to compensate for the reduction in protein

digestion by enlarging its size to produce more enzymes.

Soybean can be fed to Livestock after appropriate heat treatment to

destroy protein inhibitor activity.

The processed soybean contains 18% oil and 36% protein.

The heat treatment of soybean necessitates balancing between adequate

heat treatment to destroy toxin, and not over heating to cause protein
damage.

Soybeans which low in trypsin inhibitors activity have been developed

and can be fed without adverse effect.

Soybean contains lectins, which are glycoprotein that bind to

carbohydrates in the intestinal mucosa, causing digestive disturbance.

Isovlovones are estrogenic compounds found in soybean products, but

soybean isavlavones appear to have little effect on animal performance.

Nutrient content:

Soybean meal is highly palatable and has high digestibility and high
protein content.

Methionine is first limiting amino acid for non-ruminant.

Soybean has fairly phytic acid content which reduces availability of

phosphorous and zinc

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Soybean meal produces excellent animal performance .

In poultry and swine rations, soybean meal is the standard protein

supplement.

Soybean meal is also commonly used in cattle rations.

Cotton seed meal:

It is a by-product of the second order.

Cotton is grown primary for its fiber, the oil is extracted form the seed as
major byproduct and the cake is secondary byproduct.

Cotton is semitropical plant grown as annual plant.

Deleterious factors in gossypol:

A major constrains to the use of cotton seed meal is the presence of a

toxic constituent called gossypol.

Gossypol is a phenolic compound, containing aromatic (benzene) rings

with hydroxyl group attached.

It is yellow pigment that occurs in pigment glands that scattered through

out the seed.

There are glandless cotton varieties but are not produced commercially.
Gossypol is a natural pesticide, protecting the plant from insect and
other pests.

Gossypol has an adverse effect on poultry; one unique effect is olive

green yolk in stored egg Caused by chemical reaction between gossypol
and iron in the yolk.

Gossypol caused reduction in growth and feed intake.

Over prolonged time, it causes damage to heart liver and lungs resulting
in cardiac failure.

Recommendations for Using Cottonseed Meal

For ruminant the level of free gossypol in the diet should not exceed .001
% of the diet.

26
Feeding cottonseed meal to bulls at a rate that delivered 6.4 milligrams
(mg) per pound of body weight daily from 6 to 16 months of age, delayed
puberty in 50% of the bulls, decreased sperm production by 30% in the
bulls, and reduced the percentage of live sperm by 47%.

The recommendation for limiting cottonseed meal in the diet for young
developing bulls is based on a maximum of 150 ppm free gossypol in the
diet.

If the available cottonseed meal contains 0.5% free gossypol, then

cottonseed meal consumption needs to be limited to 0.5 pounds daily .

The first decision is to determine whether bulls are going to be

supplemented or fed a complete ration. When supplemented (<1 lb/d), it
is less likely that cottonseed meal, even at 0.5% free gossypol, will result
in severe reproductive problems.

because gossypol intake is much lower under this condition, and

secondly, the rate of passage of the diet will likely be slower than with a
high-concentrate diet.

If planning for a complete ration, do a lot of homework.

first, Determine the level of free gossypol in the diet.

Without having a good knowledge of the gossypol content of the

available cottonseed meal, alternative protein feeds such as soybean meal
or higher protein by-products should be used.

In addition to that, Vitamin E (4000 IU per day) was reported to reverse

effects of free gossypol when gossypol was consumed at 6 mg per pound
body weight daily.

Cotton seed meal contains about 41 % crude protein and 15 % crude

fiber.

It has low content of lysine and sulfur amino acids

Considering factors like fiber, low protein quality and gossypol content,
cotton seed meal is suitable for ruminant than mono-gasteric.

In addition to that, it has good source of bypass protein.

27
Ground nut cake meal

Peanut are grown for human consumption and for extraction to produce
peanut oil.

Peanut meal is a residue remaining after oil extraction.

Peanut is an annual legumes produced in tropical and semitropical

environment.

Groundnut cake is generally a safe feed for all classes of livestock.

The use of groundnut cake has no general limitations in livestock

feeding.

Groundnut cake has been used as a protein supplement in cattle feeding.

its low fiber and high protein contents make it an even more valuable
ingredient for poultry rations.

Groundnut is comparable in nutritional value to more expensive animal-

derived foods. Protein from this oilseed has the highest quality of the
vegetable proteins, equivalent to casein.

The digestibility of groundnut meal is high when it is well dehulled.

Groundnut meal is lower in available lysine than soybean meal, but

contains a greater Quantity of sulfur amino acids

An anti nutritional characteristic of peanut meal is the presence of fungi.

As discussed regarding corn, fungi produces aflatoxins.

Aflatoxins

The aflatoxigenic Aspergilli are generally regarded as storage fungi,

survives under conditions of relatively high moisture humidity and
temperature.

Aflatoxin contamination is, therefore, almost exclusively confined to

tropical feeds such as oilseed by-products derived from groundnuts,
cottonseed and palm kernel. Aflatoxin contamination of maize is also an
important problem in warm humid regions

28
The importance of aflatoxins in animal health emerged in 1960, following
an incident in the United Kingdom in which 100 000 turkey pullets died
from acute necrosis of the liver.

attributed to the consumption of groundnuts infected with Aspergillus

flavus

This event marked a defining point in the history of mycotoxicoses,

leading to the discovery of the aflatoxins. Subsequent studies showed that
aflatoxins are acutely toxic to ducklings, but ruminants are more resistant.

However, the major from of a chronic aflatoxin accumulation is the

incidence of cancer in humans.

Sunflower seed cake

While sunflower seed cake has been used extensively in ruminant feeding
in temperate countries, it has not received much attention in the literature
of Africa.

Like groundnut cake, sunflower seed cake is also a source of high-quality

protein and can be used freely in balanced diets for poultry and pigs
owing to the absence of toxic compounds.

Sunflower seed cake, produced in Africa, was almost entirely consumed

as feed.

Although no information on aggregate feed use of this byproduct by

species of livestock is available, Sunflower seed cake has probably been
fed to monogastric animals rather than to ruminants.

Sunflower meal with hulls contains 26% crude protein on a dry-matter

basis

and dehulled sunflower meal contains 50% crude protein on a dry-matter

basis.

Protein quality of sunflower meal is comparable to soybean meal.

Sunflower meal is deficient in lysine.

Sunflower meal is relatively high in fiber.

For monogastrics, the fiber content will limit its useing.

29
Feeding of the dehulled meal will decrease the fiber content.

Sesame cake

It is growing for oil production The decorticated seed are sprinkled on the
surface of certain bread types.

The seeds are produced in capsules or pods that split open readily at
maturity.

So most of the harvesting is done by hand

Sesame meal contains 38-48% crude protein on a dry-matter basis.

Sesame meal is low in lysine and adequate in methionine.

Sesame meal contains phytic acid. For monogastrics, limit the amount
fed.

Other leguminous crops

Pigeon pea

Pigeon peas are popular food in developing tropical countries.

the green seeds (and pods) serve as vegetable.

Ripe seeds are a source of flour, used split in soups or eaten with rice.

Ripe seeds may be germinated and eaten as sprouts.

Plants produce forage quickly and can be used as a perennial forage crop
or used for green manure

Often grown as a shade crop or cover crop, or occasionally as a

windbreak hedge.

As animal feed the seeds require cooking to inactivate protease inhibitors.

The grain is deficient in tryptophan as well as sulfur amino acid.

the chemical composition is illuustrating In the following table

CP 20.8- 21.4

Fat 1.53
30
CF 8.5

NFE 52.57

Ash 4.7

Cow pea

Cow pea is an annual plant grown mainly in the tropics.

More than 90% of the total world cow pea is produced in Africa.

The chemical composition is similar to other grain seeds.

They contain protease inhibitor, feeding value is improved by heat

treatment.

with heat treatment and methionine addition, they can be used in place of
soybean meal to poultry.

The dried beans are frequently sold directly to the consumer after
cleaning and bagging.

Cowpea is considered nutritious with a protein content of about 23%, fat

content of 1.3%, fiber content of 1.8%, carbohydrate content of 67% and
water content of 8-9%.

chickpeas

The chickpeas are grown in arid areas where they may have advantage
over other protein rich grains.

Chickpea is richer in fat than other leguminous grains.

It also contains assimilable calcium and phosphorus, so it is suitable for

diet improvement.

Its nutritive value can be raised by cooking.

Peas and faba bean have been used in many feed experiments for sheep,
goats and cattle and the results have shown that it is possible to totally
replace protein rich cakes by dry peas.

The chemical composition of chickpea has been shown in this table

CP 22.6
31
EE 5.1

NDF 16.3

ADF 10.1

ADL 0.63

Sugar 2.6

Starch 50.3

Animal protein sources:

Prior to1948, the inclusion of animal protein source in poultry and swine
diet was essential to provide what was called “animal protein factor”.
This factor was discovered in 1948 to be vitamin B12.

plant materials do not contain vitamin B12, Now with the synthetic of
vitamin B12 the plant materials become feasible to be incorporated in non
ruminant diet.

Many of the animal protein sources are of high quality.

Meat and bone meal:

These products derived from slaughter house waste.

It includes lungs gastrointestinal tracts, hide, horns, hair, wools

tendons…..etc.

The quality of these products are variable depending on particular by

product.

this is the problem in using meat meal in ration formulation.

Much of the protein is derived from collagen, from connective tissue.

Collagen has an unusual amino acid composition, characterized by high

content of hydroxyproline and complete absence of cystine, cysteine, and
tryptophan.

Hair, wool, horns and hooves are composed of keratin, a poorly digested
protein with high content of unavailable cystine.

32
Meat is very low in calcium and very high in phosphorous, while bones
are very high in calcium and very low in phosphorous.

This variability may result in improper calcium to phosphorous ratio.

It is very important that meat and bone meal are highly sterilized during
processing, other wise the contamination of the products with salmonella
is potential hazard.

Mad cow disease (bovine spongiform cephalopathy) is a result of feeding

infected meat meal.

The brain of the affected animal shows extensive damage and spongelike
appearance.

Blood meal

Dried blood meal contains 80 % CP, high in lysine and severely deficient
in isoleucine.

The digestibility of blood meal is often low because of heat damage

occurring in the drying process

it should be used at levels not exceeding 6- 8 % of the diet because of

amino acids imbalance .

Fishmeal

Fishmeal is among the best sources of high-quality protein for animals.

Most of the fish meal feed has probably been used in poultry and pig
rations.

The use of fishmeal in ruminant feeding is rare due to its high cost
although many experiments with cattle indicated better responses to
fishmeal than to other sources of protein.

In the preparation of fish meal, the oil is usually extracted, because it is

valuable commodity known as omega-3 fatty acids, which are of interest
in human nutrition.

33
Well prepared fish meal are among the highest quality protein sources
available.

It has a high content and quality of protein it has abundant amount of

mineral (calcium, phosphorous and trace minerals.) and vitamins.

Fish tissues contains abundant amount of amines, which has a fishy

smell.

So fish meal should not be given to poultry before slaughtering, the same
is true for laying hens.

Fish meal could be used to ruminant diet as bypass protein source

because it has excellent amino acid balance, and low degradation rate in
the rumen.

Fish meal supplementation of a molasses urea diet for cattle markedly

increased growth because of it is bypass protein contribution.

Nonprotein nitrogen source:

In the rumen microbial enzyme degrade dietary protein to amino- acids,

then ferment the amino acids as energy source, converting the nitrogen to
ammonia.

For their protein needs, microbes synthesis the amino acids they require
from the inorganic nitrogen, ammonia, and carbon fragments from dietary
amino acids and products of CHO digestion.

Microbial protein becomes available to the host animal following passage

of the microbes from the rumen.

In the acid environment of the abomasums the microbes are killed and
then digested by the animals protylatic enzymes in the small intestine.

Thus many of the amino acid absorbed by the ruminant originated from
microbial protein and not directly from dietary protein.

Non-protein nitrogen source can be utilized by ruminant if they can be

converted to ammonia in the rumen.

Ammonia nitrogen is used by the microbes for amino acid synthesis, in

the same manner as ammonia from degraded amino acids is used.
34
Urea:

Is the most common NPN.

It is produced chemically using Nitrogen and carbon dioxide from the air
and the chemical energy of natural gas.

Urea is utilized by converting to ammonia in the rumen by the action of

microbial urease.

Conversion of urea to ammonia is rapid, so there is a rapid increase in the

rumen ammonia levels.

Factor affecting urea utilization:

The amount of readily available CHO in the diet (starch).

Because urea is readily converted to ammonia, it is important that

microbial population be able to utilize it rapidly. Otherwise, rumen
ammonia level increases, ammonia is absorbed, and ammonia may be
excreted in the urine.

This represent a loss in dietary nitrogen.

A vigorous microbial population will utilize ammonia rapidly and will

produce large quantities of organic matter.

The optimum concentration of rumen ammonia is approximately 20 mg

ammonia per 100 ml rumen fluid.

Urea is not usually considered a satisfactory nitrogen supplement for low

quality roughages because low quality roughages do not support vigor
microbial growth.

On the other hand, some scientist considered urea as the one of the best
nitrogen supplement in the developing countries, provided that
supplement of molasses urea mixture is added.

When NPN is used to provide much of he fermentable nitrogen in the

rumen, it is necessary to add inorganic sulfur source to provide for sulfur
amino acid synthesis.

35
Addition of NPN nitrogen source is not beneficial when the rumen
contains an adequate quantity of fermentable nitrogen for maximum
microbial growth.

The dietary protein level above which urea is useful is not constant but
varies with energy levels, feed intake and the degradability of dietary
protein.

Urea toxicity:

Urea is not toxic but can cause ammonia toxicity.

When the level of the urea in the diet is excessive, the liver may found
difficulties to detoxify it.

Ammonia may then enter the general circulation.

the signs of toxicity include hardy breathing, staggering and bloating.

Urea toxicity can be prevented by the administration of an acid.

To prevent urea toxicity, urea should not be used at levels greater than 2 -
3 % of the diet.

Dried poultry waste:

Manure and litter from poultry houses.

Birds excrete a concentrate source of nitrogen in form of uric acid.

Uric acid can be used as a source of nitrogen for rumen microbes.

Uric acid is degraded to ammonia more slowly than urea.

Addition of DPW to straw has been found to be effective in means of

providing ammonia.

Ensiling straw with DPW resulted of ammonia being released by bacterial

action.

The main problem of using DPW is the presence of drugs in the waste.

For example, if copper sulfate is used as feed additive to poultry, it may

be toxic to sheep.

36
A potential hazard with utilization DPW is the possibility of presence of
pathogens like salmonella.

Roughages

Is a bulky feed high in fiber and low in energy they are used by
herbivores animals both ruminant and non-ruminat.

The major component of forage is cellulose.

There are 100 billion tones of cellulose produced every year in the world.

The only way of using this cellulose is through producing meat and milk
animals and other herbivore animals.

The nutrient in roughages are made available by microbial digestion.

It includes:

Pastures graze forages, hay, silage crop residues and byproducts.

Nutrient composition of forages:

Forage protein:

The nitrogen in forages consists of protein and non protein nitrogen like
amino acids, nitrates, and ammonia.

The major protein in plant cell is chloroplast protein.

The amino acid composition of forage protein is very similar among plant
species.

The reason for this is that one enzyme (D-ribulose 1,5-diphosphate

carboxlase), makes up more than 50% of cell protein.

This is a key enzyme in photosynthesis.

Leaf protein is of higher quality than microbial protein,

So it is important to utilize forage protein as bypass protein. Forages

contain tannins, have a high level of protected protein and may be
superior to those of having readily degradable protein.

Leaf blades generally have twice as much crude protein as stems.

37
 Under some circumstances, excessive amounts of protein nitrogen are
excreted as urea in the urine and animal production is limited.

This happens if protein is too rapidly or too extensively degraded to

ammonia in the rumen and synthesis of microbial protein is restricted by
limited available energy.

Under most situations, it is better to have a large portion of the forage

protein pass from the rumen undegraded so that it can be degraded in the
intestines where absorption is more efficient.

On average, 75% of forage protein is degraded in the rumen and only

about 25% escapes ruminal fermentation and passes to the intestine

The escape value may be higher for hays and artificially dried forage than
for silages and fresh forage but the effect is probably small

The crude protein of high degradation in the rumen is further partitioned

into three fractions (Licitra , 1996):

Crude protein fraction A:

is the non-protein nitrogen (NPN):

which is nitrogen passing into filtrate after precipitation by specific

reagent like trichloro acetic acid and tungstic acid.

Crude protein fractions B:

is the Soluble protein

which is defined as true protein that is soluble in buffer at rumen pH

the nonprotein nitrogen is excluded from the fractions.

Crude protein fraction B is further divided into three sub fractions

B1, B2 and B3

for rapid, intermediate and slow rate of ruminal degradation respectively.

Crude protein fraction A and B1 are soluble in borate phosphate buffer.

Crude protein fraction B2 is insoluble in the buffer but soluble in neutral

detergent solutions.

38
 Crude protein fraction B3 is insoluble in the buffer and neutral detergent
solutions but soluble in acid detergent solutions .

Crude protein fractions C

Is unavailable protein

it includes, Acid detergent insoluble nitrogen (ADIN)

It is the fraction of nitrogen or residual appears to be resistant,

indigestible and associated with lignin, and the nitrogen content of acid
detergent fiber is ADIN.

Forage Lipids:

Fat is an important energy component in the diet of ruminants and over

the last decade, fat supplementation has become a common practice to
increase the energy density of the diet for high producing dairy cows.

Forages contribute to the supply of fatty acids in one of two ways:.

First, the rumen microorganisms ferment cellulose and hemicellulose in

the forage to acetate and butyrate, which are the precursors for synthesis
of milk fat in the mammary gland and second, forages contain low
concentrations of oil .

Forage provides substantial lipids and fatty acids in ruminant diets.

Lipid represents up to 8 % of the leaf DM in forage.

They are often localized in leaf chloroplasts which contain up to 22- 25 %

lipid on dry matter basis.

Complex lipids constitute most leaf tissue, mainly as glycolipids and

phospholipids.

The esterified lipids in forage represent two third of the total lipids:

their composition is:

33% simple lipid (digelecerides, free fatty acids, waxes and sterol
esters.), 50 % of glactolipids (mono and diglactosyldiglyc esters)

39
17% phospholipids.

The fatty acid composition of forage lipid is dominated by a high

proportion of polyunsaturated linolenic and linolic acid

but also small amount of oleic acid

Mineral composition:

The mineral concentration of forages and the availability of these

minerals to livestock are important to the health of animals and,
indirectly, to the health of the human.

Mineral deficiencies or imbalances in soils and forages have long been

held responsible for low production and reproduction problems among
tropical f cattle .

Some of the important factors influencing mineral concentration of

forages are:

1- plant species,

2- plant maturity,

3- season of the year,

4- soil type,

5- soil fertility

6- climatical condition

legumes greenly contain higher concentrations of Ca, Mg, P, Co, Cu, Fe,
Mo and Zn than do grasses, the grasses contain higher concentration of K
than do the legumes.

even within closely related species there is a considerable variation in

concentration of particular mineral .

Season of the year has been reported to influence the mineral

concentration.

Todd (1961) reported that Mg concentration was lowest in spring and

increase in concentration as season advanced.

40
Fertilization of certain mineral causes changes in mineral concentration
of forages.

The addition of P, Mo, K, Ca and N to soil tends to increase the plant

concentration of the element applied

On the other hand, the addition of some element tends to influence the
concentration of other element.

Increasing N concentration has been reported to increase plant Mg and

Na, while potassium has been reported to decrease Na and Mg
concentration.

As forage species advanced in maturity N, P, and K concentration

decrease as much 50% in some species.

In contrast, the Ca and Mg increased slightly .

Soil type and physical characteristic of the soil appear to influence the
mineral concentration of forages.

Plants grown in limestone soils tend to have higher concentration of Cu,

Mg, and Ca.

Forage energy:

There are three key components that determine the energy value of a
ruminant feed, :

1- its content of fat, due to its high energy density

2- its content of non-fibre carbohydrates, due to their high digestibility,

3- and the content and digestibility of fibrous carbohydrates, due to their

high level in many ruminant feeds.

Forage crops, either grazed or conserved, form the major source of

energy for most systems of ruminant livestock production all over the
world .

Estimation of the metabiozable energy of the feed has been extensively

illustrated in many research works.

41
ME (MJ/kg) = 0.0152 DCP + 0.0342 DEE + 0.0128 DCF + 0.0159
DNFE.

Other method which has been used to determine the metabolizable energy
content of the feed is in vitro two-stage (rumen liquor/pepsin) digestion
(Tilley and Terry, 1963, and Terry et al., 1974 )

in which the D-values (% digestible organic matter in dry matter) is

measured as follows:

ME (MJ/kg DM) = 0.23 + 0.138 D-value (in vitro) + 0.01 CP.

Menke and steingass (1988) developed the in nitro gas production

technique to measure the nutritive value of feed stuffs using the value of
gas produced in 24 hrs.

They observed a strong correlation between metabolizable energy (ME)

values measured in vivo and predicted from 24 h in vitro gas production
and chemical composition of feeds.

The prediction of metabolizable energy was done as follows:

For forages:

ME (MJ/kgDM) = 2.20 + 0.136GP + 0.057CP + 0.0029CF

For concentrate:

ME (MJ/kgDM) = 1.06 + 0.157GP + 0.084CP + 0.22CF − 0.081CA,

Where GP is 24 h net gas production (ml/200 mg DM); CP, CF and CA
are crude protein, crude fat and crude ash (% DM), respectively.

Forage intake

The amount of forage consumed is the major determinant of animal

production from forage-based diets.

it is one of the most difficult aspects of forage quality to determine or

predict. This is because animal factors have a large influence on the
intake of particular forage.

42
Within a forage species, however, there is usually a positive relationship
between digestibility and intake.

The major animal regulators of forage intake when fed unrestricted diets
are associated with physical and physiological factors.

The voluntary intake of forages by ruminant has been generally

considered to be a function of the capacity of the gastrointestinal tract
particularly rumen

the metabolic factors and the physical fill of gastrointestinal tract play an
important role in the regulation of feed intake, Especially physical
balances between capacity of the digestive tract and the amount of forage
residues appears to be greater constraints for the voluntary intake of
forages.

The filling effect of forage is related to its cell-wall concentration and rate
of disappearance of cell walls from the rumen by digestion and passage.

Physical fill limits intake of forages with high NDF concentration when
fed to animals with high energy demands such as high-producing dairy
cows.

This is why NDF concentration is closely related to intake potential of

forage.

Grasses, with their high NDF concentration, typically have lower intake
potential than legumes.

because leaves have low NDF concentrations, they are consumed more
readily than stems.

The maximum cell-wall concentration of diets that will not hinder intake
and animal production can be as high as 700-750 g NDF/ kg dry matter
for mature beef cows and as low as 150-200 g NDF/ kg dry matter for
finishing ruminants.

Passage from the rumen requires both particle size reduction and escape
through the reticula-omasal orifice of the rumen.

43
Plant cell walls (fibrous plant parts) must be chewed and digested to
reduce their size so that they are small enough to pass through this small
opening.

Grasses require more chewing than legumes because of their high cell-
wall concentration and because grasses do not fracture into small particles
during chewing as readily as do legumes.

This probably contributes to the decreased rate of passage and increased

filling effect of grasses compared with legumes.

Legumes generally have a more rapid digestion rate of potentially

digestible NDF than grasses.

Additionally, immature forages normally have a faster rate of NDF

digestion than more mature forages.

Leaves are usually retained in the rumen for a shorter time than stems
because of both faster rates of NDF digestion and higher rates of passage.

The number of times that ingested hay is chewed and the time spent in
masticating is greater for late-cut than for early-cut hays and greater for
grasses than for legumes.

As a result, rate of disappearance of late-cut hay from the rumen can be

up to five times faster for legumes than for grasses

Grinding, chopping or pelleting found to increase the feed intake through

destroying the structure of cell wall, by accelerating their breakdown in
the rumen, however these processing does not increase digestibility.

Forage digestibility:

Forage cell walls provide the fibre that ruminants livestock require for
normal rumen function.

Plant cell walls composed mostly of structural carbohydrates and lignin,

account for 40 to 80% of the organic matter in forage crops.

Cell walls limit feed intake and digestibility of forages.

The specially designed digestive system of ruminants, and associated

microbial populations, are more efficient than the non-ruminant digestive

44
system for obtaining nutrients from forage cell walls. Ruminants,
however, normally extract less than one third of the energy in forage cell
walls.

On the other hand, cell contents, contained within walls, are nearly
completely digestible.

In the detergent system, neutral detergent fibre (NDF) is an estimate of

the cell-wall concentration and is negatively related to intake potential of
forages.

Acid detergent fibre (ADF) is negatively related to digestibility of

forages.

In most laboratories, ADF is used to predict digestible energy of forages.

The NDF concentration of grasses is usually greater than that of legumes

Cell wall concentration has a large influence on forage digestibility.

Stems of most forage have a higher concentration of cell walls than

leaves.

stems usually are lower in digestibility than leaves stem digestibility

declines more rapidly with increased plant maturity than does that of
leaves.

Differences between leaf and stem digestibility are normally greater in

forage legumes than in grasses .

The cell contents are largely released from within the cell walls during
the act of eating and are rapidly fermented and degraded by micro-
organisms in the rumen.

the cell content fraction in all forages behaves in a uniform, predictable

manner and, furthermore, its true and apparent digestion remains
unchanged by grinding or by variation in the level of intake

To measure the digestibility of the whole plant, forages must be chopped

and fed in amounts below ad libitum intake to avoid selective intake.

to determine intake of digestible dry matter sufficient feed should be

given to avoid feeding animal below ad libitum (Minson 1990).

45
Digestion and metabolism of carbohydrates:

Digestion is defined as the breakdown of large insoluble molecules of

food into simpler compounds by mechanical, chemical and biological
digestion

The most important feature of ruminants is their ability to digest fibrous

plant materials which simple stomach animals can not digest.

Approximately over 90% of ruminant feed material includes starch,

cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin.

Over 90% of carbohydrates ingested are fermented in the rumen by the

rumen micro organism

The main end products of carbohydrates metabolism are volatile fatty

acids (VFA) mainly acetic, propionic and puteric and carbon dioxide and
methane

Those short chain fatty acids produced during runmen microbial

fermentation of carbohydrates are used for energy by the host animal.

Acetate is the major product of carbohydrate in the ruminant and is the

only VFA present in pereferal blood in significant amount.

Also considerable amounts of propionic acid are produced from

carbohydrates break down in the rumen.

The acid then passed into the portal system and carried to the liver where
it is converted into glucose

Butyrate is normally found in low concentration in the rumen when

compared to acetate and propionate. Butyric acid produced in the rumen
is converted to β hydroxyl butyrate in it is passage across the ruminal and
osmal wall Roughage diet high in cellulose gives a rise in acetic acid.

As proportion of concentrate in the diet increases, the proportion of

acetic acid falls and proportion of propionic acid rises.

Digestion of the cell walls:

46
The digestion of this fraction is entirely dependent upon the enzymes
secreted by the symbiotic micro-organisms in the rumen and large
intestine.

Fiber digestibility of forages commonly ranges from 30 to 50%,

Since over 25% of the diets of ruminant is fiber, variation in fiber

digestibility can have a large effect on the energy content of the diet.

The digestibility of fiber is determined by how quickly it ferments and

how long is it retained in the rumen.

However, not all fiber is potentially fermentable.

Some fiber which is lignified is not available for fermentation regardless

of the length of time it spends in the rumen

The potential or maximum digestibility of the cell walls negatively and

curvilinearly related to the degree of lignification when expressed as acid
detergent lignin as a percentage of acid detergent fiber, Reducing the
mean retention time of cell walls in the rumen by high levels of feeding
or by reducing particle size prior to feeding, decreases cell-wall digestion
in the rumen to levels which cannot be made up for by digestion in the
large intestine.

Factors affecting VFA production:

The production of volatile fatty acids (VFA) is affected by the type of the
plant, pH of the rumen and blood flow.

variation of pH between 7.0 – 6.2 exert minor influences on microbial

activity.

But as pH falls below 6.2 there is a marked reduction in microbial

digestion of dry matter, cellulose and fiber.

As pH declines further below 5, fiber digestion completely ceased

low rumen pH can have a very deleterious effect on fibre digestion which
in turn reduces food intake and digestibility.

47
low rumen pH has other undesirable consequences for the host animal, It
causes inflammation of the rumen wall In cattle, this is associated with
hairs being trapped causing bacterial infection of the liver via the portal
vein.

The low rumen pH has other consequences particularly in dairy cows.

The absorption of both D and L lactic acid often associated with low pH
causes the cows to go off feed due to acidosis.

This in turn leads to acetonaemia as low feed intake during the

continuous synthesis of milk leads to glucose deficiency with elevation of
3 hydroxybutyrate in the plasma

there is a possible effect of osmotic pressure on VFA absorption.

The three VFAs were not affected differently, but overall rate declines as
osmotic pressure increases

The relative molar proportion of VFA in the rumen liquor is influenced

by rumen dilution rate and pH

A higher liquid dilution rate, caused by intraruminal infusion of artificial

saliva, was found to increase the acetate propionate ratio in sheep

The high ash may also lead to a higher liquid dilution rate in a similar
way to infusion of artificial saliva, by increasing the rumen osmotic
pressure

Forage Palatability:

Generally is not thought to be an important factor in determining feed

intake, but plant materials which are main food to the animal contain
chemical defense compounds which affects palatability and reduces feed
intake.

In the tropics, forages are generally of lower nutritive value than those in
temperate areas.

Tropical forages consists of mostly coarse plants with large different in

quality and within morphological component (i.e. leaves, stems, sheath
and blades

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Animals tend to select the more nutritive parts of the plants and ignore
older and coarser material

Feeding and nutrition of dairy cattle

Strategies of dairy cattle nutrition

 Calf
 Dry cow
 close up cow
 Lactating cow

Calf nutrition

From birth until weaning, clave undergo tremendous physiologic and

metabolic changes.

During the preruminant stage, digestion and metabolism are similar to

those of nonruminant in many respects.

so the dietary requirements are best met with high quality liquid diet
formulated from source of carbohydrates, protein and fats that are
digested efficiently.
With respect to the nutrient requirements of calf, three phases of
development related to the digestive function are recognized:
1. liquid phase

2. transitional phase

3. ruminant phase

Liquid phase:

All essential nutrient requirement are met by milk or milk replacer.

The quality of these feeds are preserved by a functional esophageal

groove, which shunts liquid feed to the abomasums and so avoid
microbial breakdown in the reticulruem.

Early Colostrum Intake = Survival

Colostrum is secreted by the mammary gland shortly before and after

calving.

True colostrum is obtained only from the first milking.

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 After the first milking and for the next two days, the Colostrum provides
a calf with its primary source of nutrients.

 true colostrum contains twice as much dry matter and total solids.

 two to three times as much minerals

 five times as much protein as whole milk.

 Colostrum also contains various hormones and growth factors that

are necessary for growth and development of the digestive tract.

Colostrum is lower in lactose, thus decreasing the incidence of diarrhea.

Calves are born with little defense or immunity against disease, They
acquire resistance to disease from their dam through timely and adequate
intakes of high-quality colostrum, their mother's first milk.

Calves that do not receive adequate amounts of quality colostrum early

in life are more susceptible to diseases

Energy is important at first two weeks because calves can not digest
starch, sugar or unsaturated fats.

Calves raised for purpose other than veal production should be

encouraged to consume dry feed at an early age to stimulate development
of a functional rumen.

In this phase calves fed milk + starter feed.

Under good management calves should consume appreciable nutrients

from starter feed by the second week of life.

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To encourage early consumption of calf starter, calves should be free
access to water and highly palatable starter feed from the first week of
life until they are weaned.

Consumption of starter feed is critical to development of functional

rumen.

Fermentation products, principally butyrate, from fermentation solid

feeds are responsible for development of functional ruminal epithelial
tissue.

Grains stimulate production of VFAs in the rumen.

Digestive system develops from 2 week until 4 – 6 months and calves

evolve into ruminant.

Abomasum changes from 60 % to 8 % and the rumen changes from 20 %

- 80 %.

A calf at about 2 week age would consume on the average diet:

60 % of DMI is drived from milk replacer ( ME = 4.75 Mcal/kg DM)

40 % from starter (ME = 3.28 Mcal/kg DM)

The calculation used to drive ME requirements for veal calves are the
same as those for milk replacement calves

Veal calves are fed essentially ad libitum intake. So rate of gain will be
higher than those of limited fed replacement calves.

Phase three : Ruminant phase:

Nutrition is important at this time because reproduction depend on sound

healthy animals.

If underfed, diseases or having parasites then puppetry is delayed.

Low energy will lead to ovarian inactivity.

Low protein will cause irregular or silent heat.

From 30 – 40 % of adult weight at breeding age (13 – 15 months).

Pasture is a good choice of forage (high energy and less expensive).

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3 lbs concentrate / day.

12 % crude protein, 15 % crude fiber, and 0.4 % calcium at 6 months and

0.29 % calcium at 12 months

Final 3 months of pregnancy heifer will need extra nutrients for

development of calves .

Protein requirements of calves

The requirement is partitioned into components of maintenance and gain.

Maintenance constitutes obligatory (N) losses in the urine and feces

Where gain contains N stored in the tissues.

The protein requirement is expressed in term of apparent digestible

(ADN/d).

This is computed as follows:

AND/d= 6.25( 1/BV( E+G+MXD)- MXD)

Where as BV= biological value

E= endogenous urinary N

G= the amount of N in gain

D= dry matter consumed from milk or milk replacer

M= metabolic fecal N

Mineral and vitamin requirements:

For calcium and P the recommended concentration in milk and milk

replacer diet were:

1 % Ca and 0.7 % P

The recommended content of Na in milk replacer was 0.4%

For Chloride = 0.25 %

For K= 0.65 for milk replacer , starter and growing diet.

For iodine= 0.5 mg/kg

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The recommended content of most macro minerals in milk replacer and
starter are close to those of whole milk

Where as the recommendation for many of the trace elements are higher
than those found in milk to prevent deficiencies.

Vitamins

Vitamin A

The requirement of vitamin A should be 96.7 IU/ kg of LW for growing

calves or 9000 IU / kg DM

Vitamin E

50 IU / kg LW or 5000 IU / kg DM

Vitamin D

9000 IU / kg DM

Water soluble vitamins:

Once the calves are weaned to dry fed, there is no evidence that these
vitamins need to be supplemented to the diet, for the action of
microorganism.

Energy feed for calves:

GE (Mcal/kg)= 0.057 X CP + 0.094X EE+0.042XCHO

ME= (1.01XDE-0.45)+0.0046(EE-3)

Nutrient requirement of replacement heifers:

The optimum growth pattern for dairy heifers is the program which
developed her full lactation potential at a desired age and a minimum
expense.

Grouping is essential for proper nutritional management , for example 3

months weaned heifers may be able to obtain adequate nutrients from
feed as fed to 6 months heifers.

At birth calf must be fed colustrum to acquire passive immunity.

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After feeding colusturum most heifers are reared in milk replacer with CP
ranging from 20 – 22 %.

Calf starter should contain only high palatable ingredient.

Fiber content should be minimized and non-protien N should be avoided.

Because these young animal will not have fully functioning rumen.

Although many producers use forage in their calf rearing program, the
practice should be avoided until the calf is weaned.

After weaning a small amount of forage may be incorporated into the

ration to stimulate ruminal growth and the cost of weight gain.

As the calf mature, it may be possible to meet the nutrient requirements

solely from forage

Feeding dairy cows:

A successful nutritional plan must attain the optimum utilization of

nutrient by lactating cattle.

Cows generally eat a certain percent of their body weight depending on

the phase of lactation.

 Nutrient requirements vary with the stage of lactation and

gestation.

 Figure below illustrates the shape and relationship of curves for

milk production, fat percentage, protein percentage, DM intake,
and body weight change during lactation.

 Five distinct feeding phases can be defined to attain optimum

production, reproduction and health of dairy cows

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  Early lactation—0 to 70 days (peak milk production) after calving

 Peak DM intake—70 to 140 days (declining milk production)

 Mid- and late lactation—140 to 305 days (declining milk

production)

 Dry period—60 to 14 days before the next lactation.

 Transition or close-up period—14 days before to parturition .

Phase 1. Early lactation—0 to 70 days postpartum.

 Milk production increases rapidly during this period, peaking at 6

to 8 weeks after calving.

 Feed intake does not keep pace with nutrient needs for milk
production, especially for energy, and then body tissue will be
mobilized to meet energy requirements for milk production.

 Cows enter a negative nitrogen balance.

• Adjusting the cow to the milking ration is an important

management practice during early lactation.

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 • Increasing grain about 1 pound per day after calving will increase
nutrient intake while minimizing off-feed problems and acidosis.

• Excessive levels of grain (over 60 percent of the total DM) can

cause acidosis and a low milk fat percentage.

• Fiber level in the total ration should not be less than 18 percent
ADF, 28 percent NDF.

• Protein is a critical nutrient during early lactation.

• Meeting or exceeding crude protein requirements during this

period helps stimulate feed intake and permits efficient use of
mobilized body tissue for milk production.

• Rations may need to contain 19 percent or more crude protein to

meet requirements during this period.

• Cow typically eat 3.5% of BW/day

In this phase to increase nutrient intake :

• Feed top quality forage

• Make sure the diet contains adequate amounts of CP.

• Increase grain intake at a constant rate after calving.

• Consider adding fat (1 to 1.5 lb/cow/day) to diets.

• Allow constant access to feed.

• Minimize stress conditions .

Phase 2. Peak DM intake

• second 10 weeks postpartum.

• Although milk production will decline , DM intake is continuously

increased up to 5 month after parturition

• Cows should be maintained at peak production as long as possible.

• Feed intake is near maximum and can supply nutrient needs.

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 • Cows should no longer be losing body weight, and begin to put
body condition again

• Grain intake can reach but should not exceed 2.5 percent of the
cow's body weight

• Adding grains or feeds high in digestible fiber to the ration may

be necessary to help maintain an optimal rumen function

• Forage quality should still be high with intakes of at least 1.5

percent of the cow's body weight (DM basis) to maintain rumen
function and normal fat test .

To maximize nutrient intake :

• Feed forages and grain several times a day.

• Feed the highest quality feeds available.

• Limit urea to 0.2 pound per cow per day.

• Continue to minimize stress conditions .

Phase 3. Mid- to late lactation

140 to 305 days postpartum.

This phase will be the easiest to manage.

Milk production is declining, the cow is pregnant, and nutrient intake will
easily meet or exceed requirements.

Grain feeding should be at a level to meet milk production requirements

and begin to replace body weight lost during early lactation.

Young cows should receive additional nutrients for growth (2-year-old,

20 percent more; 3-year-old, 10 percent more than maintenance).

Consider NPN as a source of supplemental protein .

Summary—Phase 1, 2, and 3.

Compare your current feeding program with the following guidelines :

Protein: 18 to 19 percent CP (DM basis) in early lactation decreasing to

13 percent in late lactation.
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Undegradable or bypass protein (UDP) should be 35 to 40 percent of the
CP in early lactation and 30 to 35 percent of CP in late lactation.

About 30 percent of CP should be soluble protein.

Net energy-lactation:

0.78 Mcal per pound of DM or greater in early lactation decreasing to

0.72 Mcal per pound in late lactation, and 0.6 Mcal per pound during the
dry period.

Forage amount:

Minimum of 1.5 pounds of forage DM per 100 pounds of body weight.

High quality legume forages should be the major source of forage fed
during early lactation.

Fiber: A minimum of 18 percent ADF in the dietary DM during early

lactation increasing to 21 percent or greater in late lactation.

Forages should provide a minimum of 21 percent NDF in the dietary

DM.

Nonfiber carbohydrates:

35 to 40 percent of the dietary DM.

Fat: Maximum of 7 percent of the total ration DM with no more than 4

percent from supplemental fat.

Limit fat from oilseeds to 2 percent of the ration DM.

Salt: 0.5 percent of the ration DM or 1 percent of the grain mix.

Mineral:

Approximately 1 percent of the grain mix should be a calcium-

phosphorus mineral.

Urea: Maximum of 0.4 pounds of urea per day or 1 percent of the grain
mix.

Vitamins:

Supplemented A, D, and E in

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rations to meet requirements

Ration form:

Forages and grains should not be chopped or ground too fine.

Phase 4. Dry period

60 to 14 days before parturition.

The dry period is a critical phase of the lactation cycle.

A good, sound dry cow program can increase milk yield during the
following lactation and minimize metabolic problems at or immediately
following calving.

 A dry cow feeding program separate from lactating cows is

required.

 Diets should be formulated to specifically meet the nutrient

requirements of dry cows:

 body maintenance, fetal growth, and replacing any additional body

weight not replaced during phase 3.

DM intake will be near 2 percent of the cow's body weight.

Forage intake should be a minimum of 1 percent of body weight or 50

percent of the dietary DM.

Grain feeding should be according to needs, but not exceeding 1 percent

of body weight

Limiting the amount of feed DM offered to less than 2 percent of body

weight may be necessary when rations contain only corn silage or other
high energy feeds, to avoid over-conditioning of cows.

Feeding low quality forages is preferable to limit feeding.

Meet calcium and phosphorus needs, but avoid large excesses.

Calcium intakes of 60 to 80 grams and phosphorus intakes of 30 to 40

grams are sufficient for most cows

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Provide adequate amounts of vitamin A, D, and E in rations to improve
calf survival and lower retained placenta and milk fever problems.

Trace minerals, including selenium for most producers, should be

adequately supplemented in dry cow diets .

Key management factors include :

• Observe body condition of dry cows and adjust energy feeding as

necessary.

• Meet nutrient requirements and avoid excessive feeding.

• Change to a transition ration starting 2 weeks before calving.

• Avoid excess calcium and phosphorus intakes.

• Limit salt to 1 ounce and limit other sodium-based minerals in the

dry cow ration to reduce udder edema problems .

Phase 5. Transition period

14 days before to parturition.

The transition or close-up dry cow feeding program is critical to adjusting

dry cows to the lactation ration and preventing metabolic problems.

Some grain, if not previously fed, should be fed starting two weeks before
freshening.

Introduction of grain is necessary to begin changing the rumen bacteria

population over from an all-forage digestion population to a mixed
population of forage and grain digesters.

Some suggested management strategies during this period include :

• Provide 6 to 10 pounds of grain to adapt rumen microbes to

fermentable carbohydrates and stimulate rumen micro folra
formation.

• Increase protein in the ration to between 14 and 15 percent of the

ration DM.

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 • Feeding some of this additional protein in the form of
undegradable protein may be beneficial in supplying amino acids
for fetal growth
• Limit fat in the ration to 0.25 pounds. High fat feeding will depress
DM intake.
• Maintain 6 to 10 pounds of long hay in the ration to stimulate
rumination.
• Remove salt from the ration if edema is a problem.
• If niacin (to control ketosis) and/or anionic salts (to help prevent
milk fever) are going to be used, they should be included in the
ration during this period.
Feeding and nutrition of horses
1- feeding for reproduction and growth and light performance (reem)
2- feeding for moderate to intensive performance (racing) (wafa)
3- nutritional problems of horses nashwa
4- Feeding and nutrition of rabbits including the nutritional problems of
rabbits marwa
5- feeding and nutrition of dogs zain
6- feeding and nutrition of cats mohamdain
7- feeding and nutrition of Fur animals rowa
8- feeding and nutrition of wild animal abdalla
9- feeding and nutrition of zoo animal reem
10- feeding and nutrition of fish (mustafa
11- livestock production and human welfare. mushera
12- silage and hilage making (tahani)
13- hay making rania
14- feeding and nutrition of ornamental animals (hala)
15- feeding and nutrition of pigs (intisar)
16- grass tetany (sana ibrahim)

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