Animal Nutrition Terms

Beaumont

• Army doctor who made observations in fistula in stomach of Alexio St. Martin 

• Opportunity to learn about how stomach functions 

• Discovered that stomach is not a grinder, no digesting takes place by digestive juices secreted from the stomach, foods are digested at the same time but at different rates → fat is digested slowly

St. Martin

• French trapper who was shot and whose stomach

• Dr. William Beaumont made observations with after he healed and a fistula was left. 

Lavoisier

• French scientist credited as the Father of Nutrition

• Designed a calorimeter (measured heat produced by the body from work, from consumption of different types and amounts of foods)

• "Life is a chemical process"

• Beheaded in the French revolution

Daniel

• Book of Daniel, in the Bible

• First nutritional experiment

• Decent experiment, with multiple observations and controls

Lind

• British naval doctor who wrote treatise on scurvy

• Credited as discovering effect of citrus on scurvy and credited w/initial discovery of vitamin C

• Failed to recognize the importance of his own observations. 

• Limeys

Babcock

• First semi-purified diets (single plant feeding experiment) → all corn or wheat, used in economically important species

• Corn fed animals were sleeker and more vigorous, and had normal calves. Wheat fed calves died at birth or soon after. 

• Either corn contained something wheat did not or wheat had something toxic. 

• Resulted in the discovery of vitamins and the golden age of nutrition.

• Babcock Milkfat test

Funk

Coined Vitamin, after "vital amines" 

Animals composition vs plant material composition

• Contain the same 6 nutrient categories (that's all there are) but distributed differently

• Animals use carbs for energy but do not store much of them

Starch

• If too much consumed converted to fat and stored

• Digestion in ruminants and non ruminants 

  • In the pig, dog and other nonruminants, carbs are digested by the animal's own enzymes down to monosaccharides that are then absorbed.  

    • Digested into glucose.  

  • In ruminants microbes ferment the carbs into VFAs → absorbed from the rumen and are used for energy.  

  • The glucose both needed (for glycogen, blood glucose and brain function, and also glucose in lactose, has to be manufactured, called gluconeogenesis.  That takes place from propionic acid (not acetic acid) and some amino acids.  

• Glucose + glucose w/ alpha bond 

• Repeating units of the disaccharide maltose 

• Digested by amylase

• Amylose - straight chained and amylopectin is highly branched

Cellulose

• The MAIN feature difference between ruminants and nonruminants → rumen with its microbes that digest carbs, including cellulose, and remodel proteins and NPN into bacterial protein

• Allowing ruminants to eat completely different feeds and have very different requirements from nonruminants.  

• Glucose + glucose w/ beta bonds

• Digested by cellulase → only from bacteria in rumen

NPN

• NPN is nonprotein nitrogen

• Any nitrogen not in the form of protein

• Only form of NPN that is used as a feed source of N for ruminant animals is urea

Glycogen

• polysaccharide, all made of glucose

• Stored in limited amounts in animal cells

• It is highly branched so is similar to amylopectin. 

• Readily available supply of energy 

Glucose

• Glucose the animal needs (for glycogen, blood glucose and brain function, and also glucose in lactose, has to be manufactured, called gluconeogenesis. 

• Blood sugar

Maltose

Glucose + glucose w/ alpha bond 

Lactose

Glucose + galactose

Sucrose

Glucose + fructose

Cellobiose

Unit of cellulose

Lignin

• Appears in crude fiber (Carbs) in proximate analysis

  • Not a carb, but listed with them as that is where it is analyzed in the feed

  • It’s indigestible itself, reduces the digestibility of other parts of the feed by binding to other things like carb and making them unavailable or easy to get to for enzyme attack

• Function → helps protect plants from disease and gives them structural strength

• No nutritional benefits

Essential amino acids

PVT TIM HALL

Phenylalanine

• Amino acid is tested at baby’s birth to be sure its metabolized correctly 

• Phe and asp together are very sweet. 

Tryptophan

• Involved with sleep

• Pigs - lysine, tryptophan

Methionine

• Which 2 EAA's are most economical to buy "in a bag" i.e. synthetically?

• Lysine and methionine

  • Lysine because it is so important procedures have been developed for it

  • Methionine because the D and L form are both active so it can be cheaply synthesized.   

• Chickens - lysine, methionine 

Lysine

• Which 2 EAA's are most economical to buy "in a bag" i.e. synthetically?

• Lysine and methionine

  • Lysine because it is so important procedures have been developed for it

  • Methionine because the D and L form are both active so it can be cheaply synthesized.   

• Pigs - lysine, tryptophan 

• Chickens - lysine, methionine

Glycine and proline

Essential for baby chick

Water

• Metabolic water → necessar for hibernating animals, and those that conserve water to a very high degree, like the desert rat.    

• Doesn’t provide energy

• 12% loss is fatal

• 3 major properties

  • High dielectric constant (high polarity and dissolves many things)

  • High specific heat (takes a lot of heat to change state, maintain body temp)

  • High latent heat of vaporization (heat removed when sweat evaporates) 

• Sources → Feed, drinking, metabolic water 

• Functions → movement of nutrients, constant body temp, and medium for chemical reactions, synovial fluid, sound transmission in ear, light transmission in eye 

• Consequences of too little → decreased food intake, decreased production, heart rate increase, hemoconcentration/poop circulation, increase temperature, increase respiration rate, death 

Carbohydrates

• Major source → Feeds.  Grains, forages. 

• Determined by Crude Fiber and NFE 

• VFA's are formed in rumen fermentation of carbohydrates (and also in the cecum of nonruminant herbivores) 

• 4kcal energy

Protein

• Kjeldhal procedure → N x 6.25 determines crude protein

• Provides energy only after the requirements for it are met 

• True protein → actually made of amino acid connected by peptide bonds in large complex molecules (estimated by CP)

• 4kcal energy

Fat

• 9kcal energy

• Essential Fatty acids

  • Linoleic acid

  • Linolenic acid

  • Arachidonic acid

  • Deficiency causes skin problems, necrosis, growth and reproductive failure, subcutaneous hemorrhage, and poor feathering in chicks 

  • Deficiency looks like vitamin A deficiency and zinc deficiency

• VFAs

  • VFA's are formed in rumen fermentation of carbohydrates

  • Acetic acid → 2 carbon

  • Propionic acid → 3 carbon

  • Butyric acid → 4 carbon

• Long chain saturated fatty acids

  • palmitic acid

  • stearic acid 

• Monosaturated fatty acid → oleic acid

• Why (and how) do fats contain more energy? (how much?)

  • Fats contain mostly carbon and hydrogen, with very little oxygen taking up weight in the molecule → there is more to oxidize 

  • On average 2.25 times as much energy in fats as in carbs or proteins.

• What has to happen to fats in order for them to be digested?

  • They must be emulsified.   

• Fat sources → Mostly from used plant and animal sources, especially used grease that is refined from the restaurant business.  

• Fat is better for hot summers → carries more calories & requires less heat to convert to energy

• Soluble in ether and other organic solutions

• Unsaturated fats spoil more quickly; make diets greasy and oily, but easier to mix into feeds

Vitamins

Toxic vitamins

• Fat soluble vitamins, mainly A & D b/c cannot be excreted in urine

Fat soluble

• Maintain structures in the body 

• A

• D

• E

• K

Water soluble

• Intermediary metabolism 

• B

• C

Minerals

Macro minerals

• Needed in relatively large amounts

• Calcium (Ca)

• Phosphorus (P)

• Magnesium (Mg)

• Sodium (Na)

• Potassium (K)

• Chlorine (Cl)

• Sulfur (S)

Toxic Minerals

• Essential

  • Selenium

  • Iodine

  • Copper

  • Fluorine

  • Molybdenum

• Nonessential

  • Cd

  • As

  • Pb

  • Hg

  • U

  • Ra

  • Pu

Trace minerals

• Iron

• Zinc

• Copper

• Cobalt

• Manganese

• Iodine 

• Molybdenum

• Selenium

• Chromium

• Fluoride

Vitamin A

• Function → protects epithelial tissues

• Deficiency causes epithelial integrity problems 

  • Night blindness

  • Infertility

  • Change of cell type

• Precursor → carotene

• Retinol and retinoic acid

Vitamin B Complex

• Thiamin (B1)

• Riboflavin (B2)

• Pyridoxine (B6)

• Niacin

• Pantothenic acid

• Folic acid

• Choline

• Biotin

• B12

Thiamin (B1)

Deficiency causes beri beri

Riboflavin (B2)

• Deficiency causes 

  • Excessive number of stillborn pigs 

  • Curled toe paralysis

• Involved in flavoproteins → tranport of H 

Pyridoxine (B6)

Deficiency causes 

• Anemia 

• reproductive problems

Niacin

Deficiency causes

• Pellagra

• Black tongue

Folic acid

• Deficiency causes anemia

• Prevents fetal abnormalities of neural tube closure, such as spina bifida

• Involved in synthesis of purines and amino acids 

Choline

• Poorly fits the definition of a vitamin → acts as methyl donor

• In sow's diets → increases litter size 

• Deficiency causes perosis (slipped tendon)

Biotin

• Has sulfur

• Deficiency looks like fatty acid and zinc deficiency

• Deficiency causes skin problems

• Involved in fat synthesis

• Prevents skin lesions

B12

• Cyanocobalamine

• Intrinsic factor for absorption (cobalt)

• So large it needs this to cross the membrane

• Deficiency causes pernicious anemia

Vitamin C

• Ascorbic acid

• Needed by man but not by farm animals 

• Deficiency causes scurvy

Vitamin D

• Acts like a hormone

• Influences calcium and phosphorus absorption

• Deficiency causes bone malformation

  • Rickets

• Cholecalciferol (D2) and 1,25 dihydroxy-cholecalciferol (D3)

• Precursor → ergosterol 

• D2 is the plant form, D3 is the 'animal form'

  • Most animals can use both but poultry and cats need D3 

• Would be supplemented in cases of milk fever

• Can get from sunshine on skin

Vitamin E

• Deficiency causes cellular membrane peroxidation problems

  • White muscle disease

  • Stiff lamb disease

  • Exudative diathesis

  • Mulberry heart disease

  • Nutritional encephalomalacia 

• Biological antioxidant

• Interacts with selenium

• d,alpha-tocopherol

Vitamin K

• Phyloquinone and menadione

• Function → blood clotting mechanism

• Deficiency causes failure of blood clotting

• Dicoumerol is natural occurring anticoagulant that functions as vitamin K depleted, found in moldy foods

Calcium (Ca)

• Function → regulation of nerve excitability, normal muscle action, blood clotting, bone/teeth deposition

• Ca supplementation comes from calcium carbonate

  • ground road rock

  • Make a better diet more cheaply, even though we do not see an immediate benefit

• Factors affecting Ca and P utilization

  • Ca:P amounts themselves, and the ratio of the 2 minerals

  • Presence of some other minerals → Fe (iron), Al (aluminum) Mg (magnesium) and Be (beryllium)

  • Presence of fatty acids

• Deficiency has little effect on growth or feed intake

  • Mostly affects only bone density → osteomalacia

• Chronic calcium deficiency will cause hypertrophy of the parathyroid glands from continuously acting to draw calcium from the bones, resulting in nutritional secondary hyperparathyroidism

• Milk fever is also called parturient paresis, and is a condition of hypocalcemia

  • Typically occurs near the time of calving

  • Treatment →  infusion of a calcium solution directly into the blood stream

  • Prevention → help mobilize calcium before it is critically needed, and since PTH is a slow hormone to act, lowering Ca in the diet beforehand may help. 

    • Manipulation of anion/cation balance has recently shown to be partially effective, as well.  

• In all animals → excreted in feces

• Usually supplemented as limestone.  

• Regulated by parathyroid gland

  • Without enough Ca, or too much P, bone isn't formed or maintained properly, because it activates the hormonal system for controlling the Ca level in the blood.  

  • Regulated in blood by calcitonin

• Stored in bones, teeth, blood

Phosphorus (P)

• Increase phosphorus availability?   

  • Use the enzyme phytase (feed it) to increase the P availability of the P in the feed

• Factors affecting Ca and P utilization

  • Ca:P amounts themselves, and the ratio of the 2 minerals

  • Presence of some other minerals → Fe (iron), Al (aluminum) Mg (magnesium) and Be (beryllium)

  • Presence of fatty acids

• Deficiency causes

  • Pika (abnormal appetite)

  • Rickets (severe case) and other bone abnormalities, low blood serum levels

  • Low weight gain

  • Low milk production

  • Low fertility   

• Excretion of P

  • Urine of nonruminants

  • Feces of herbivores.     

• P often comes from dicalcium phosphate, monocalcium phosphate or defluorinated rock phosphate.  

• Phytate (phytic acid, phytin) binds the phosphorus and the enzyme phytase liberates it.    

• About 80% stored in bones But more is in soft tissue then compared to Ca  

• Problem with most feed phosphorus? 

  • It is tied up in phytate phosphorus and the phosphorus must be split in order to be useful in non-ruminants?

  • Phytase

Magnesium (Mg)

• Function → activator of enzymes; ATP for muscle contraction; glucose use; to split and transfer phosphorus

• Supplement Mg in what form to prevent grass tetany?     

  • MgO, magnesium oxide

  • Animal may not choose to eat any, unless you mix it with something it will eat, like salt, or corn, or in a mineral mix with phosphorus. 

• Deficiency causes → Mineral deposits on soft tissue; grass tetany

Sodium (Na)

• Almost always deficient and we need to add it 

• Principle cation outside of cells 

• Necessary for acid base balance osmotic regulation 

Potassium (K)

• Usually adequate and seldom added (mainly in high grain diets in cattle)

• Principle cation inside of cells

• Necessary for acid base balance osmotic regulation 

Chlorine (Cl)

• Essentially never deficient

• Primary anion in sodium potassium pump

• Generally pretty available

Sulfur (S)

• Methionine, biotin, and thiamin

• Add no value to nonruminant diets

Selenium (Se)

• Deficiency causes goiter

• Part of thyroxine

Copper (Cu)

• High levels fed to pigs for a growth promotant effect 

• Interacts with Iron to form hemoglobin in blood

• Mo and Sulfur together will result in a Cu deficiency 

• Deficiency causes anemia

  • Depigmentation of wool and swayback in lambs 

• Necessary to use iron

• Can help decrease dependency on antibiotics

Fluorine (F)

• Toxic level in raw rock phosphate 

• Molybdenum

• Constituent of oxidase 

Iron (Fe)

• Iron oxide is completely unavailable

• Part of hemoglobin

• MICROBES need iron also, and oversupplementation may increase susceptibility to infection 

• Most animals don't need much iron because they hold on to it so well, and excrete very little. Control in the body is by preventing excess absorption, rather than through excretion

• Deficiency causes anemia

Zinc (Zn)

• Somewhat like fatty acid deficiency and biotin deficiency, all resulting in somewhat similar skin lesions

• Deficiency causes parakeratosis

• Can help decrease dependency on antibiotics

Cobalt (Co)

• Needed as part of B12

• Deficiency causes pernicious anemia

• Not effective to add to nonruminant diets

Manganese (Mn)

Deficiency cause perosis (slipped tendon)

Chromium (Cr)

• Necessary for carbohydrate metabolism

• No deficiency symptom

Beta agonist

Repartitioning agents divert dietary energy to muscle growth instead of fat storage

BST and PST

• BST (Bovine Somatotropin) used to increase milk production

• PST is a growth chemical, never approved for pigs

• PROTEIN hormones, not steroids, and if eaten they would be digested to amino acids in the digestive tract like other proteins

Steroid use

• Estrogenic hormones are used in steers (estradiol or steeroid)

• Androgenic hormones are used in heifers (heiferoid)

• Cause muscle hypertrophy, without causing the secondary sex characteristics associated with those steroid hormones

DES

• Manmade estrogen that improves gain and feed efficiency

• Withdrawn because carcinogen

• Withdrawn in1972

Feed additive

• Don't supply nutrients

• Include growth promoters, preservatives, anthelmentics, etc.

Antimicrobial

Any compound that has inhibitory effects on microorganism

Antibiotic

Antimicrobial compounds produced by microorganisms.

Zearalenone

• Zearalenone is an estrogenic substance considered a mycotoxin

• Can interfere with normal production and reproduction

• Developed to use in cattle

Somatotropin

Protein growth hormone