PRE-VETERINARY NUTRITION OBJECTIVES
The nutrition course must be animal-oriented and cover both monogastric and ruminant nutrition.
The student should be informed on the following subjects.
- Water and water quality
- Energy concepts, units of measure and dry matter intake
- Definitions, requirements, sources of energy
- Calories, total digestible nutrients (TDN)
- Net energy (NE), metabolizable energy (ME), digestible energy (DE)
- Carbohydrates
- Structure, types, source: neutral detergent fiber (NDF), acid detergent fiber (ADF), non-structural carbohydrates
- Digestion, absorption and metabolism
- Lipids
- Structure, types, source: triglycerides, saturated and unsaturated fatty acids
- Digestion, absorption and metabolism
- Proteins, nucleic acids and nitrogenous compounds
- Structure, types, source
- Digestion, absorption and metabolism
- Protein quality and limiting amino acids
- Ruminant protein digestion and synthisis: degradable, undegradable, soluble, non-protein nitrogen, microbial protein
- Vitamins, structure and function, source, requirements
- Fat soluble vitamins (A, D, E, K)
- Water soluble vitamins (B complex, C)
- Minerals, structure and function
- Macro-minerals
- Calcium/phosphorus
- Dietary cation anion difference
- Mg, S, K, Na, Cl
- Trace elements (Cu, Zn, Se, Co, I, Fl, Mb)
- Mineral interactions
- Rumen physiology
- Rumination, saliva production, rumen microbiology
- Rumen digestion: carbohydrates, protein, lipids, vitamins
- Role of volatile fatty acids
- Feed identification, analysis and evaluation
- Plants as feeds: pasture grass, hay, silage
- Concentrates vs. forage
- Food evaluation types, labeling, ingredients, dry matter content
- Maintenance nutrition requirements for various species
- Nutritional requirements for lactation, work and reproduction. Nutrition requirements for growth,
pre-weaning and post-weaning
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