Globally, dairy and beef production has become an extremely competitive industry. While the world milk production is predicted to grow significantly by 2020 with the emergence of new consumers in developing countries, milk and meat production in the more establish markets now has to fulfil new societal needs beside the simple product supply: animal health, food safety, and production environmental impact are some of them. At the same time, the recent extreme increase in feed costs emphasizes again the key role of rumen and gut efficiency management in production economics. All these new thematic topics are central to the proper management of ruminant digestive process. Producers must endeavour to seek new technologies to improve production efficiency, animal health and production costs while keeping in mind the environmental impact these changes make. ‘Gut efficiency; the key ingredient in ruminant production’ brings together some of the world’s leading authorities in the field of ruminant nutrition and production. It considers the importance of digestive health in performance achievement together with novel strategies to manage it. It is aimed at nutritionists, veterinarians and animal producers as well as students and researchers studying animal and applied biological sciences.

"Globally, the face of pig and poultry production is changing. The global emphasis on ethanol production has diverted significant proportions of grain away from animal production, thus increasing the cost of feed. This has forced the pig and poultry industries to scrutinise their production methods investigating alternative feed ingredients together with methods of improving productivity and efficiency in order to survive. This edited collection of papers is taken from a series of seminars that brought together some of the world's leading authorities in the field of pig and poultry nutrition and production. The fundamental theme is to address the interaction between nutrition and the gut ecosystem as a means to enhance health, performance and ultimately profitability. The importance of gut development and the intestinal ecosystem as a whole, and their impact on health and disease are covered in-depth. The roles of specific feed ingredients are also discussed. 'Gut efficiency: the key ingredient in pig and poultry production' is aimed at nutritionists and animal producers as well as students and researchers studying animal and applied biological sciences."

"Globally, the face of pig and poultry production is changing. The global emphasis on ethanol production has diverted significant proportions of grain away from animal production, thus increasing the cost of feed. This has forced the pig and poultry industries to scrutinise their production methods investigating alternative feed ingredients together with methods of improving productivity and efficiency in order to survive. This edited collection of papers is taken from a series of seminars that brought together some of the world's leading authorities in the field of pig and poultry nutrition and production. The fundamental theme is to address the interaction between nutrition and the gut ecosystem as a means to enhance health, performance and ultimately profitability. The importance of gut development and the intestinal ecosystem as a whole, and their impact on health and disease are covered in-depth. The roles of specific feed ingredients are also discussed. 'Gut efficiency: the key ingredient in pig and poultry production' is aimed at nutritionists and animal producers as well as students and researchers studying animal and applied biological sciences."

Stress is an abnormal response of the organism to external environmental stimuli. In the process of breeding production, animals will show various stress reactions due to changes in their physiological functions, environmental conditions, and management levels. Transportation, high temperature, cold, and other stressors could induce protective reactions in the animal body, showing obvious physiological metabolic disorders and non-specific immune dysfunction, disrupting the physiological processes of nutrient metabolism, digestion and absorption, and immune defense, and ultimately leading to a decrease in production performance and feed conversion rate.

The use of drugs in food animal production has resulted in benefits throughout the food industry; however, their use has also raised public health safety concerns. The Use of Drugs in Food Animals provides an overview of why and how drugs are used in the major food-producing animal industriesâ€"poultry, dairy, beef, swine, and aquaculture. The volume discusses the prevalence of human pathogens in foods of animal origin. It also addresses the transfer of resistance in animal microbes to human pathogens and the resulting risk of human disease. The committee offers analysis and insight into these areas: Monitoring of drug residues. The book provides a brief overview of how the FDA and USDA monitor drug residues in foods of animal origin and describes quality assurance programs initiated by the poultry, dairy, beef, and swine industries. Antibiotic resistance. The committee reports what is known about this controversial problem and its potential effect on human health. The volume also looks at how drug use may be minimized with new approaches in genetics, nutrition, and animal management.