Applied Animal Nutrition-I

KELLNER FEEDING STANDARD

• In 1907 Kellner, a German scientist investigated a feeding standard based upon “Starch” as the unit of measurement.
• He took into account not only the digestibility of the feeds as calculated from the amount lost in faeces and urine but also the entire loss from the body including energy expended in digestion and passing the food inside the body (chewing, etc.).
• For measuring the amount of energy lost from the body as heat, Kellner devised a respiration apparatus.
• Here heat is determined indirectly by finding the amount of carbon dioxide gas liberated or by measuring the amount of oxygen gas used up in oxidation which takes place in the body.
• The animal breathes through an airtight mask placed over its nose and mouth.
• According to this system, a 1,000 lbs. animal needs 0.6 lb. of digestible protein and 6.35 lbs. of starch equivalent.
• This starch equivalent in turn can be converted into energy by a method worked out by Armsby and Kellner.
• For any feed if the composition of it is known it may be converted to starch equivalent by using the following factors:

Dig Protein	x	0.94	=	S.E.
Fat from coarse fodder	x	2.1	=	S.E.
Fat from cereal grain	x	2.1	=	S.E.
Fat from oil seeds	x	2.4	=	S.E.
Dig. Carbohydrates and fibre	x	1.0	=	S.E.