ANN 121: Applied Animal Nutrition-I (2+1)

WHAT IS NUTRIENT REQUIREMENT?

• Nutrient requirement is a statement of what animals on an average requires for a particular function.
• Whereas the nutrient allowance is greater than the nutrient requirements as it includes margin of safety.
• The margin of safety is given to take care of the variations in requirement between individual animals.

Nutrient requirement may be calculated for

• Two purpose
  • For maintenance
  • For production purposes. (milk, meat, wool, egg, work etc.)

Maintenance

• The maintenance ration is that which takes care of the needs of animals at rest to carry out the basic essential processes of life such as breathing and circulation of blood, without either gain or loss of weight.

Production

• Nutrient supplied to the animal over and above its maintenance requirement is available for production (growth, milk production, reproduction and work.)