Nutrition is the intake of food and is related to the what each individual animals dietry requirements are, relating to good nutrition which means that it must be well balanced with a combination of regular exercise (WHO, 2015).
When meeting an animals nutritional requirements it is extremely important to consider factors of what may effect or change the performance, whether they may be neonatal (young), geratric (old), sick or working animals (Animal nutrition, 2015).
As previously mentioned, the nutritional requirements may differ in quanity or quality due to various species of animal needing different levels of required sources.
Under all circumstances must the animals body be provide with at least the six basic nutritent components.
The balance of nutrients is essential for feeding animals and a combination needed daily must be provided within the diet in some format, these are; carbohydrates, protein, fats, vitamins, minerals and water (The nutrients, 2015).
All about nutrition
What is important for good nutrition?
Nutrition is important for any animals health and in order for it to work accordlingly with an animals lifestyle and stage, it must be provided with a fully complete and balanced diet as it is essential for maintaining the animals health (HealthP, 2015).
Why is nutrition important?
Animals are heretrophs which means that they are organisms that are unable to synthesise their own organic compounds (Heretroph, 2015). This means that organisms are not able to provide their own food and must eat other organisms in order for them to survive, this will then produce plently of energy for the body (Friedl, 2015).
(Gif Animations, 2016)
How nutrition links to the digestive system...
When understanding the context of animal nutrition it is essential to understand how it works. The digestive system is essential for the passage of nutrients as it allows the body to function normally. In order for the nutrients to be absorbed the animal will obtain food and ingest it, allowing the food to move along from one breakdown process, onto the next and later removing the ungested remaninings left within the body (Agar, 2001).
The digestive system is composed up of various important organs (shown in Figure 1 below) and each have differing structures and functions in the aid of completion of digestion and absorption of nutrients, each are assisting in the mechanical and chemical breakdown of food (Boundless, 2015).
How the digestive system works for different animals
(YouTube, 1989)
An animals digestive system is responsible for three main purposes;
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Digestion of food
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Absorption of nutrients
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Secretion of remaining digestive juices (The digestive system, 2015).
Figure 1. The Digestive System of a canine
Nutritional requirements differ in species of animals and it is important that the principles of different digestive systems must be understood before the actual dietary requirements of an animal can be met.
This is because the gastrointestial tract of individual animals varies considerably, according to the main ingredients of their diet .E.g: herbivores, carnivores or omnivores.
Herbivores -> are animals such as deers or rabbits; these only eat plant material
Carnivores -> are animals such as cats; only eat meat
Omnivores -> are animals that consume both plant material and meats i.e. bears (Boundless, 2015).
In relation to digestion animals are commonly classified into two groups on the basis of their digestive physiology, these are; ruminants and monogastric. The obvious difference between both these types of animals is that in monogastric animals the fermentation (chemical breakdown by bacteria) takes place at the end of the gastrointestial tract and in comparison to the ruminant it occurs at the beginning (Animal nutrition, 2015).
Monogastric:
Monogastric animals only have a single stomach which function is to secrete enzymes in order to break down food into smaller particles; where then further gastric juices are produced by the liver, salivary glands and the pancrease in which can assist with the digestion of food.
Ruminant:
Ruminants are animals that have four stomachs and eat plant matter and their stomachs have symbiotic bacteria living inside, which helps digest the very nearly impossible components. e.g. cellulose (Boundless, 2015).
(Google Images, 2016)
(Google Images, 2016)
Digestibility determines how much nutrition a food is able to provide in a certain volume which means that it is an important criteria when selecting the best type of feed for an animal (Digestibility, 2013)
Digestibility also relates to the preparation of the feeds, for example: If an animal is hospitalised they can become reluctant to eat for whatever reason and therefore require special techniques to persuade them to eat again. It also covers how easily certain types of food may be digested i.e Fibre and Polysacchardies - two types of formulated compounds that are extremely difficult to break down.
Forms to help aid with digestibility may include;
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warming up the feed
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crushing or breaking the feed
Animal feed needs to have an energy density that is sufficient to provide for their calorific needs. Energy can be measured in two forms;
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Joules
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Calories
All animals use energy but their exact requirements depend on many factors
such as age, level of activity and size (Agar, 2001)
When food is ingested, not all eergy contaijing in the diet can be used by the animal. The digestibility of any nutrient is a measure of the difference between the amount eaten and the amount lost through the faeces;
Relationships between energy:
DE = GE – Energy lost in faeces
ME = DE – Energy lost in urine and gases
NE = ME heat loss
Part of the usable energy is converted to heat during digestion and absorption and although some will be used to maintain body temperature, more of it is lost to the animal (Agar, 2001).
How partition of energy and digestibility relates to feed...
(Bing, 2016)