This book describes current research in modelling nutrient use in farm animals, from cellular to ecosystem level. The chapters are developed from papers presented at a satellite meeting of the 9th International Symposium on Ruminant Physiology, held in South Africa in October 1999.Excellent papers from a top list of contributorsEditors of great reputationCovers the current topics of interest
For more than 30 years, modelling has been an important method for integrating, in a flexible, comprehensive and widely applicable way, basic knowledge and biological concepts on digestion and metabolism in farm animals. The purpose of this book is to present the 'state of art' in this area. The chapters are written by leading teams and researchers in this field of study, mainly from Europe, North America and Australasia. Considerable progress has been made in topics dealing with: modelling methods, feeding behaviour, digestion and metabolic processes in ruminants and monogastric animals. This progress is clearly illustrated by the emergence of a new paradigm in animal nutrition, which has moved from the aim to cover the requirements of the animal to explaining and predicting the responses of the animals to diets (e.g., productivity and efficiency, impact on quality of products, environmental aspects, health and well-being). In this book several chapters illustrate that through empirical models, meta-analysis is an efficient tool to synthesize information gathered over recent decades. In addition, compared with other books on modelling farm animal nutrition, two new aspects received particular attention: expanding knowledge of the individual animal to understanding the functioning and management of herds, and the consideration of the environmental impact of animal production. This book is a valuable source of information for researchers, nutritionists, advisors, and graduate students who want to have up-to-date and concise information on mathematical modelling applied to farm animals.
This book brings together the papers presented orally or as posters at the Sixth International Workshopon Modelling Nutrient Utilization in Farm Animals, held in Wageningen, The Netherlands, 6 - 8 September2004. The purpose of this book is to present current research in modelling nutrient digestion andutilization in cattle, sheep, pigs, poultry and fish.The book is organised into six sections that cover a range of topics and modelling approaches; theseare (i) absorption and passage; (ii) growth and development; (iii) mineral metabolism; (iv) methodology;(v) environmental impact; and (vi) animal production and feed evaluation. Deterministic, stochastic,empirical and mechanistic modelling approaches are described.This book will be of significant interest to researchers and students of animal science, particularly thoseconcerned with nutrition modelling.
Digestion in animals involves mechanical, enzymatic, and microbial processes in the gastrointestinal tract, which convert large feed particles to a size which can be absorbed, transported, and used by the animals. The digestive systems of all farm animals are not the same, rendering them less competitive and able to adapt to a wide range of available feed resource niches. Based on the structure and functions of the digestive tract, farm animals are divided into two major groups: ruminants or polygastrics, e.g. cattle, buffaloes, sheep, and goats; and non-ruminants or monogastrics, e.g. horses, donkeys, rabbits, dogs and cats. The key difference between these two groups of animals lies in the structure of the stomach. Ruminants, as opposed to non ruminants, have three additional stomach compartments where digestion takes place in different environments. In general, for farm animals the processes associated with digestion include prehension, ingestion, grinding or mastication, digestion of feed, absorption of nutrients, and excretion of waste products.Nutrient Digestion and Utilization in Farm Animals to present comprehensive topics on nutrient digestion and utilization in cattle, sheep, pigs, poultry and fish. The book covers a range of topics and modelling approaches; these are absorption and passage; growth and development; mineral metabolism; methodology; environmental impact; and animal production and feed evaluation. Deterministic, stochastic, empirical and mechanistic modelling approaches are described. This book will be of significant interest to researchers and students of animal science, particularly those concerned with nutrition modelling."
Mathematical modelling is increasingly applicable to the practical sciences. Here, mathematical approaches are applied to the study of mechanisms of digestion and metabolism in primary animal species. It also explores common themes between species, and provides an integrated approach to mathematical modelling in animal nutrition.
The objective of this book is to provide a scientific-based, multidisciplinary perspective to the dialogue between society and the stakeholders within livestock production. Concerns and problems related to food safety, animal welfare and rural environment are discussed within a holistic approach. This unique approach has an added-value compared to other books which cover these topics from a specialist point of view. The different issues are developed by well-known experts in their field of work. They are dealing with the latest developments in livestock production in relation to social concerns (such as, regulations, risk communication, reduction of environmental impact, sustainability and economic and social impacts of alternative strategies) and production systems (including transport and slaughter, feeding strategies, waste management and future monitoring technology).Readers from various disciplines will find these ideas useful and complimentary to their own expertise, and may apply them to decision making, vocational training and other educational applications.
These proceedings contain 15 papers on the recent advances in pig and poultry mechanistic modelling. Notable among the papers is the consideration of new components of the animal production process, such as social stressors and disease. Understanding of some new systems such as the physiological control of egg production in hens by modelling is the given focus in one paper. The topics covered in the other papers include the following: introduction to modelling in the animal sciences, different approaches to modelling animal systems; basic concepts describing animal growth and feed intake; modelling populations for purposes of optimization; advancements in empirical models for prediction and prescription; nutrient flow models, energy transactions and energy feed systems; evaluation of animal genotypes through model inversion; considerations for representing microenvironmental conditions in simulation models for broiler chickens; use of physiological models to define environmental control strategies; comparison of pig growth models from the genetic point of view; model of metabolism in the sow; and place of models in the new technologies of production systems.
