Animal nutrition

1. WISE IAS
VETERINARY OPTIONAL
FOR UPSC CSE
With Dr. Nireeksha Jain

2. Get The Wise IAS App
Download lessons and learn anytime,
anywhere with the Wise IAS app
2
Dr. Nireeksha Jain

3. 3
LECTURE
TOPIC
LIVE- CLASS
ANIMAL NUTRITION

4. SUB-TOPICS
1. UPSC PYQ’S
2. NUMERICALS
3. METHODSFOR IMPROVING NUTRITIVE
VALUE OF POOR QUALITY ROUGHAGES
4. RATION FORMULATIONOF LIVESTOCK
DURING SCARCITY PERIOD
4
LECTURE

5. PYQ’S UPSC (2016)
1. Many non-nutritive substances are often being mixed in animal and poultry
ration as growth-promoters. Discuss the uses and abuses of these growth-
promoters.
2. Why are broilers and layers fed different types of rations? What are the
similarities and dissimilarities in these two rations?
3. How will you designan economicration of pigs for productionof lean meat?
4. What is silage? Discuss in brief about the anti-nutritional factors commonly
found in animal feeds.
5. Give the schematic representation of partitioning of feed energy in the body
lactating cows?

6. PYQ’S UPSC (2015)
1) Discuss the methods for estimation of protein requirements for maintenance
of bullocks.
2) Differentiatebetween the following:
(i) Starch equivalent and Net energy
(ii) Crude protein and True protein
(iii) Cellulose and Starch
(iv) Digestible energyand Metabolizable energy
(v) Concentrates and Roughages.
3) Guidelines to feed high yielder cows?
4) What feeding practices are suggestedforadult female pigs?

7. PYQ’S UPSC (2014)
1. Why Vitamin-A is important for animal body? What are the deficiency symptoms
of Vit-A in animals?
2. Define silage. Discuss the important methods of preparing silage. What are the
important crops used for silage making?
3. Define probiotics. Enlist important micro-organisms which are used as
probiotics and also discuss the characteristics of good probiotics.
4. Differentiate betweenthe following:
• Crude Protein Vs. Digestible Crude Protein
• Water soluble vitamin Vs. Fat soluble vitamins
• Roughage Vs. Concentrates
• Maintenance ration Vs. Production ration
• Metabolic energy Vs. Net energy.
5. Explain the mode of feeding and management practices of young piglets?

8. 8
PYQ’S UPSC (2013)
1. Discuss the nutrient requirements of poultry for Meat and Egg production.
2. Discuss processing methodsforroughage to improve its utilization by animals.
3. Discuss complete feeding system fordairy farms.
4. What do you understand by feed supplements and feed additives?
5. Describe various groups of additives used in animal feed.
6. What is NPN compound?Write the mechanism of NPN utilization in ruminants.

9. 9
HOME-WORK
QUESTION
A cattle 500 kg body.wt. offered 25 kg green fodder containing 30% moisture and
after 24 hrs, 1.5 kg residue was left having 32% moisture, and excreted 15 g faeces
having 37% moisture.
Calculate total feed intake, nutrient intake, nutrient digested& digestibility
coefficientof various nutrients ?

10. ANSWERS
Total feed intake = 23.5 kg
DMI = 16.45 KG
DME= 9.45 KG
DIG.COEFFICIENT (DM)= 42.5 %
CPI = 1.76 KG
CPE= 0.817 KG
CPD (coef.)= 53.5 %
EEI = 0.58 KG
EEE= 0.074 KG
EED (coef.)= 87.24 %
NFEI =8.225 KG
NFEE= 1.34 KG
NFED (coef.)= 83.70 %
CFI= 4.69 KG
CFE= 1.4 KG
CFD (coef.)= 70.1 %

11. COMPUTATIONOF RATION
(NUMERICALS)
PEARSON’S SQUARE METHOD
• This method is used for compounding of concentrate mixture from two feed
ingredients only.
• In this method, either protein or energy-density in the compound feed is
calculated.
Question-
For compounding of feed-mixture of 20% CP on DM basis, the feed-
ingredients available are ground-nut cake (GNC) containing 45% CP & 75%
TDNand Maizegrain containing10% CP & 85% TDNon DM basis.

12. 12

13. 13

14. 14

15. 15

16. METHODS FOR IMPROVING NUTRITIVE
VALUE OF POOR QUALITYROUGHAGES
❑ Straws are the low density feeds characterized by high content of structural
carbohydrates (cellulose and hemicelluloses), low level of starch type
carbohydrates,low nitrogen and minerals and varying amount of lignin.
❑ The extent to which cellulose and hemicellulose are digested in the rumen
depends to a great extent on the degree of their association with each other and
with lignin.
❑ There is insufficient rumen degradable nitrogen and other elements (S. P.
Ca & Co) in the straw to supply the requirements of the rumen microbes for
maximal synthesis of organic matter.
❑ Much of the small amount of nitrogen in the straw is probably in the insoluble
acid detergentfibre fraction and is unavailable to the rumen microbes.
Therefore it is imperativethat these deficiencies are corrected before poor
quality roughagesare considered assatisfactory feedstuffs for ruminants.

17. METHODS FOR IMPROVING FEED VALUE
OF POOR QUALITY ROUGHAGES
A. Supplementation with deficientnutrients-
The purpose of supplementing poor quality roughages is to correct nutrient
imbalances and thereby creating optimum rumen conditions for efficient microbial
fermentation.
✓ Enrichment with urea and molasses.
✓ Supplementationwith green fodders either leguminous or non-leguminous.
✓ Supplementationwith urea-molasses liquid supplements.
B. Treatments
Physical, chemical and biological treatments have been tried for improving the
nutritive value of poorquality roughages.

18. 18

19. PHYSICAL TREATMENTS
1. Pelleting: Pelleted feeds are agglomerated feeds formed by extruding
individual or mixture of feed ingredients by compacting and forcing through die
opening by any mechanical process. The application of optimum amounts of
heat, moisture and pressure is required. Roughages are usually grounded
before they are pelleted, size of the pellets range from 12/64" to 48/64".
Pelleted roughages weigh about 401b/cft as compared to 5-6 1b/cft. of long
hay.
2. Soaking: This implies short-term soaking for about 12 to 24 hrs. The paddy
straw is rich in oxalate and the major portion of it is present in the form of
soluble K and Na and small fraction is present in the insoluble form of calcium
oxalate. Soaking of paddy straw reduces some of the oxalates and may
improve the nutritive value of the straw especially the calcium nutrition.

20. 20
3. Chopping/grinding: Grinding a lingo-cellulosic material affects its behavior in
the digestive tract of a ruminant in three ways.
❖ It greatly reduces the time and effort made by the animal to break down the
material into particles, which are small enough to pass through the rumen into
the lower digestive tract.
❖ It increases the surface area of the material thereby providing more sites for
cellulolytic enzyme action.
❖ It increases the density of feed thus effectively increases the intake capacity
of animal.
4. Irradiation: The use of ionizing radiations to increase the digestibility of lingo-
cellulosic material is based on the observation that when wood is irradiated the
cellulose chain length decreases and insoluble carbohydrate becomes more
available to rumen bacteria. The quantum of irradiation needed (25-75 mrad) to
break the digestion ceiling and to release substantial amount of additional energy
in a lingo-cellulosic material is quite high and therefore, this method is too
expensive for commercialapplication.

21. 21
5. Pressure treatment using steam: This treatment is based on the hydrolytic
action of high temperature steam that breaks chemical bonds and increases the
digestibility of residual product. The increase in digestibility is reported to be due
to combination of the direct physical influence of steam (7-42.2 kg/cm³), heat and
pressure on lignin and separating cell wall components and from auto-hydrolysis
by the acids released.
Chemical treatments
1. Treatment with NaOH –
• Beckmann method (developed in 1921): This is the wet method of NaOH
treatment and consists of treated chopped straw in 8-10 times its weight of cold
1.2-1.5% (w/v) solution of NaOH for at least 4 hrs. The treated straw is drained
and washed with large quantity of water until free from alkali. The quantity of
water used to wash the treated straw varies from 40-50% of the added NaOH.
• Dry method: Here the straw is sprayed or sprinkled with small volume of
concentrated solution of NaOH. 4-6 kg of NaOH dissolved in 200 It of water is
adequate for100 kg straw.

22. Chemical treatments
2. Ammonia: Itis an alternative to NaOH fortreatment of poorquality roughages.
• Anhydrous NH3 treatment: Stacks of straw are wrapped with polyethylene and
injected with 3% anhydrous NH3.
• Aqueous NH3 treatment: Aqueous ammonia (20-35 %) is also used
commercially for treatment of straw. Advantage of this method is that at NH3
concentration of about 20% the solution can be transported and handled at
normal temperature and pressure.
• Ammoniation throughurea hydrolysis.
3. Treatments using oxidizing agents: Oxidizing agents like H2,O2,O3, sodium
peroxide etc. can be used for the treatment of straw. Unlike alkali, which does not
disrupt the lignin molecule, peroxides are known to oxidize lignin and disrupt its
complexwith hemicellulose.

23. BIOLOGICAL TREATMENT
❑ This treatment involves the use of microorganisms such as
Phanerochcete chrysosporium, Streptomyces viridosporus, Coprimus
fimetarius etc or their enzymes for depolymerization of complex structures
presentin highly fibrous feed materials.
❑ It is based on the principle that lignolytic fungi will selectively degrade
lignin and may leave behind better digestible cell-wall carbohydrates for
further utilization by the ruminants.
❑ Karnal process: It is essentially a biological treatment of lingo-cellulosic
material in a solid state fermentation.

24. RATION FORMULATION OF LIVESTOCK
DURING SCARCITY PERIOD
1. The scarcity of animal feeds caused by floods is of a temporary nature.
During droughts, severe shortage of animal feed especially of roughages is
encountered. This has an adverse effect on feed supply position. Some
areas are therefore more prone for fodderscarcitythan the others.
2. Commercial crops continue to be cultivated in selected pockets with
ensured irrigation even in the worst drought affectedzones.
3. The use of by-products of such commercial crops as well as drought
resistant vegetation, in combination with NPN as a source of protein
and molasses as source of energy can be used for meeting the immediate
nutritional requirements under conditions of scarcity.
4. Certain varieties of tree leaves and cakes of inedible oilseeds can be used
to meetthe essential requirements of intact protein in the ruminants.

25. 25
❑ Ration for adult non-producing cattle (50-300 kg body weight), per animal
twice a week: Bagasse, 2.0 kg: molasses, 0.4 kg; sugarcane tops chopped, 8.0
kg; urea, 22 g; common salt, 30 g; sterilized bone meal, 20 g and trace elements
mixture, 0.5 g.
❑ Ration for growing animal (50-150 kg body weight) per animal twice a
week: Bagasse, 2.0 kg, molasses, 0.8 kg; sugarcane tops chopped, 3.0 kg;
urea, 40 g; common salt, 20 g; sterilized bone meal 20 g and trace element
mixture, 0.5 g.
❑ Ration for adult non-producing cattle (150-300 kg body weight) per animal
twice a week: Bagasse, 4.0 kg: molasses, 0.8 kg; sugarcane tops chopped, 2.0
kg (in case of non availability of tops, the ration should be fortified with 5,000 IU
of vitamin A); urea, 22 g; sterilized bone meal, 20 g and trace elements mixture,
0.5 g.

26. 26
Systems of liquid urea-molasses feeding (with limited concentrate and
forage)
❖ Ruminants on account of their four pouched compound stomach and the
microbial inhabitants in the rumen, can utilize non-protein nitrogenous
substances like urea and biurates for the supply of their protein
requirements.
❖ Urea, a commercial chemical compound, is being extensively used for the
feeding of farm animals under experimental conditions.
❖ Inspite of numerous studies, urea-molasses impregnation technique could not
get wide application because of the tedious method of impregnating the
straw/poor-quality roughages with urea-molasses solution. It is not only
laborious but is also costly.
❖ In the past,molasseshas been usedin India as:
1. A carrier for urea for the impregnation of poor quality roughages like wheat
straw, paddy straw, bagasse and other grasses,
2. A binder for pelletingthe commercialfeedsand
3. A carrier for urea and other non-protein nitrogenous substances for the
preparation of liquid protein supplements, where 15-30% or even higher
concentration of urea has beenused.

27. 27
Urea-molasses liquidfeed
Preparation ofurea-molasses liquid feed
• Liquid molasses containing 2-3 % uniformly mixed urea fortified with minerals and
vitamins A & D, has beennamed as 'Liquid Feed'.
• It can be fed in liquid form separately from bulky parts (forage)of the ration.
• Liquid feed can form an economic system of animal production not only during
the scarcity periods but even otherwise also.
• The principle involves the homogenous mixing of urea in liquid molasses.
The mostpracticalsafe urea-molassesliquid feed is prepared by mixing the
following:
Urea 2.5 parts
Water 2.5 parts
Mineral mixture 2.0 parts
Commonsalt 2.0 parts
Molasses 92.0 parts
Vitamin D3 25 g/100 kg of liquid feed.
Urea is completely dissolved in water and poured gradually in a tank with a
simultaneous mixing by a wooden handle. While mixing powdered salt and mineral
mixture are sprinkled over the molasses to ensure the uniform distribution of all the
additives in the liquid molasses. In winter, viscosity of molasses increases, thus
heating is essential for thorough mixing of the minerals.

28. 28
Introductionof liquid feed in the ration of cattle & buffaloes
Sudden shift of animals from conventional feeding to liquid feeding may
cause some digestive disturbances and animals may go off-feed, or due to
excessive intake, molasses toxicity may take place and therefore it is
advisable to introduce liquid feed gradually in the ration in about 15 days as
follows:
1. For the first 3 days reduce 25% feed-grain mixture and offer 0.5 kg
liquid feed afterfeeding concentrate part of the ration.
2. In the next three days cut down the farm grain mixture to 50 % and
offer kg of liquid feed. At this stage the forage level should also be
reduced by 20 to 30% of total intake.
3. During the next three days, the concentrate mixture should be
completely removed and animals should be fed first to consume about 1
kg dry matter from forage source, and then the liquid feed should be
offered free of choice in a separate container or in the same trough after
removing the forage residue, if any.
4. From the 10th day onward, forage should be first fed to supply about
700 to 900 g of dry matter followed by ad libitum liquid feed.

29. 29
5. Along with liquid feed, a little amount of intact protein feeding would be
beneficial. Hence it is better to feed 300 g of groundnut cake or fish meal to
animals. For younger calves (6 months to year of age), a little of higher amount
eg. 400 to 500 g/animal/day, may give more satisfactorygrowth
6. Free choice fresh drinking water should be available for the animals on
liquid diet.
7. It is advantageous to provide free choice mineral mixture/mineral licks in a
separate container.

30. THANKS!
30