This book contains an up to date and more focused examination of developments in the understanding of voluntary food intake and new ideas and studies related to diet selection. New chapters are introduced and old ones are rewritten and reorganized in a more readable style by using extensive reference to books and reviews. The book is intended for animal nutritionists, animal scientists, farm owners and managers, veterinarians and students.

The Voluntary Food Intake of Farm Animals offers a wide discussion on food intake among farm animals. The book presents various studies, facts, details, and theories that are relevant to the subject. The first chapter begins by explaining the basic definition and significance of voluntary food intake. This topic is followed by discussions on meal patterns, the main features of eating, and the similarities between species. The next chapter explores theories about the food intake control, which are divided into two types: single-factor theories and multiple-factor theories. In Chapter 3, the discussion is on the food's pathway, including elaborations on the various receptors. Chapter 4 considers the central nervous system's involvement in the voluntary food intake and the energy balance regulation. The next couple of chapters highlight the possible reasons that affect food intake; among them are pregnancy, fattening, physical growths, and the environment. In the book's remaining chapters, the discussion revolves around grass intake and the prediction and manipulation of voluntary food intake. The book serves as a valuable reference for undergraduates and postgraduates of biology and its related fields.

This monumental text-reference places in clear persepctive the importance of nutritional assessments to the ecology and biology of ruminants and other nonruminant herbivorous mammals. Now extensively revised and significantly expanded, it reflects the changes and growth in ruminant nutrition and related ecology since 1982. Among the subjects Peter J. Van Soest covers are nutritional constraints, mineral nutrition, rumen fermentation, microbial ecology, utilization of fibrous carbohydrates, application of ruminant precepts to fermentive digestion in nonruminants, as well as taxonomy, evolution, nonruminant competitors, gastrointestinal anatomies, feeding behavior, and problems fo animal size. He also discusses methods of evaluation, nutritive value, physical struture and chemical composition of feeds, forages, and broses, the effects of lignification, and ecology of plant self-protection, in addition to metabolism of energy, protein, lipids, control of feed intake, mathematical models of animal function, digestive flow, and net energy. Van Soest has introduced a number of changes in this edition, including new illustrations and tables. He places nutritional studies in historical context to show not only the effectiveness of nutritional approaches but also why nutrition is of fundamental importance to issues of world conservation. He has extended precepts of ruminant nutritional ecology to such distant adaptations as the giant panda and streamlined conceptual issues in a clearer logical progression, with emphasis on mechanistic causal interrelationships. Peter J. Van Soest is Professor of Animal Nutrition in the Department of Animal Science and the Division of Nutritional Sciences at the New York State College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell University.

Understanding voluntary feed intake of pigs enables the precise formulation of pig feeds, ensuring the ingestion of sufficient but not excessive amounts of nutrients to optimise performance. This reference textbook, based on scientific results covers all aspects of feed intake in pigs. It contains up-to-date reviews by renowned scientific experts on different aspects affecting voluntary feed intake and diet selection in pigs. Different physiological factors involved in feed intake regulation, ranging from the sensorial evaluation of feeds, to the hormonal and metabolic regulation of feed intake and the impact of pig health are discussed. The book also deals with aspects such as genetic background of the animals, feeder design, feed manufacturing technology and the use of models to predict feed intake. This book is intended for academics, researchers, students and industry professionals involved in the field of pig nutrition and pig production.

This book presents specially commissioned reviews of key topics in farm animal metabolism and nutrition, such as repartitioning agents, near infrared reflectance spectroscopy and digestibility and metabolisable energy assays, where major advances have recently been made or which continue to represent issues of significance for students and researchers. Authors include leading researchers from Europe, North America and Australia.

Forage in Ruminant Nutrition is the 12th text in a series of books about animal feeing and nutrition. The series is intended to keep readers updated on the developments occurring in these fields. As it is apparent that ruminant animals are important throughout the world because of the meat and milk they produce, knowledge about the feeds available to ruminants must also be considered for increased production and efficiency. This text provides information that readers will find considerably invaluable about forage feeds, such as grass, legumes, hay, and straw. The book is composed of 16 chapters that feature the following concepts of ruminant forage feeding: • composition of ruminant products and the nutrients required for maintenance and reproduction; • energy and nutrient available in forage: calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, sodium, copper, iodine, zinc, manganese, selenium, and cobalt; • intake of forage by housed ruminants; • grazing; • forage digestibility; • protein in ruminant nutrition; • protein and other nutrient deficiencies. This volume will be an invaluable reference for students and professionals in agricultural chemistry and grassland and animal husbandry researches.