Animal Nutrition

Code: ZOO12388L

6 ECTS

Duration: 15 weeks/156 hours

Scientific Area: Animal Science

Teaching languages: Portuguese

Languages of tutoring support: Portuguese

Presentation

The unit studies the nutrients, their metabolism and utilization by the animals for their conservation and production processes. Animals' needs for energy, protein and other essential nutrients are established.

Sustainable Development Goals

Fome zero e agricultura sustentável - Acabar com a fome, alcançar a segurança alimentar e melhoria da nutrição e promover a agricultura sustentável.

Saúde e bem-estar - Assegurar uma vida saudável e promover o bem-estar para todos, em todas as idades.

Educação de qualidade - Assegurar a educação inclusiva, e equitativa e de qualidade, e promover oportunidades de aprendizagem ao longo da vida para todos.

Consumo e produção responsáveis - Assegurar padrões de produção e de consumo sustentáveis.

Ação contra a mudança global do clima - Tomar medidas urgentes para combater a mudança climática e seus impactos (*).

Vida terrestre - Proteger, recuperar e promover o uso sustentável dos ecossistemas terrestres, gerir de forma sustentável as florestas, combater a desertificação, deter e reverter a degradação da Terra e deter a perda da biodiversidade.

Learning Goals

Knowledge: Revealing the fundamental principles of animal nutrition, and its application to feeding. How nutrients can be supplied by feed, how animals digest and metabolize them to meet their nutrients needs and the control of food intake. Animal nutrient requirements. Effect of nutrition on animal production and welfare as well as impact on the environment.
Skills: Describe the types of feed, characteristics and methods of analysis. Explain the role of major groups of nutrients, the concept of digestibility and how it relates to food and animals and the role of energy in food and their metabolic utilization. Describe the main energy evaluation systems. Explaining the use of the protein and amino acids, including the use of non-protein nitrogen by ruminants. Describe the nutritional requirements of animals .
Competences: Knowing the difference between foods, how to read analysis reports and nutritional value and nutriente requirements tables.

1. Animal foods (concept of food and nutrient, food analysis).
2. Nutrients (the main groups of nutrients, their properties and functions in the animal).
3. Digestibility and digestive kinetics (bioavailability of nutrients and importance of their determination, factors that affect the digestibility of food).
4. Energy and energy recovery systems [energy content of food (raw, digestible, metabolizable and clean energy) and energy assessment systems for ruminants, monogastric and companion animals.
5. Protein and protein valorization systems (protein quality of food and protein evaluation systems, both for monogastric and ruminants). Interactions between energy and protein.
6. Ingestion and foraging behavior. Environmental consequences
7. Nutritional needs of animals (needs for maintenance, growth and fattening, reproduction, egg production and lactation).

Teaching Methods

Teaching methodology: During the classes will be transmitted and explained the main concepts, promotingthe discussion and resolution of specific cases that allow the integration of knowledge acquired and itspractical application to animal feeding. Some topics will be presented in the form of questions and students must seek to answer, using different literature sources. Over time, students solve problems of calculating food digestibility and determining the needs of animals for different functions Assessment: Two written tests held during the semester (50%+50%) or, alternatively, a final exam (100%).