For more than 30 years, modelling has been an important method for integrating, in a flexible, comprehensive and widely applicable way, basic knowledge and biological concepts on digestion and metabolism in farm animals. The purpose of this book is to present the 'state of art' in this area. The chapters are written by leading teams and researchers in this field of study, mainly from Europe, North America and Australasia. Considerable progress has been made in topics dealing with: modelling methods, feeding behaviour, digestion and metabolic processes in ruminants and monogastric animals. This progress is clearly illustrated by the emergence of a new paradigm in animal nutrition, which has moved from the aim to cover the requirements of the animal to explaining and predicting the responses of the animals to diets (e.g., productivity and efficiency, impact on quality of products, environmental aspects, health and well-being). In this book several chapters illustrate that through empirical models, meta-analysis is an efficient tool to synthesize information gathered over recent decades. In addition, compared with other books on modelling farm animal nutrition, two new aspects received particular attention: expanding knowledge of the individual animal to understanding the functioning and management of herds, and the consideration of the environmental impact of animal production. This book is a valuable source of information for researchers, nutritionists, advisors, and graduate students who want to have up-to-date and concise information on mathematical modelling applied to farm animals.

This book brings together the papers presented orally or as posters at the Sixth International Workshopon Modelling Nutrient Utilization in Farm Animals, held in Wageningen, The Netherlands, 6 - 8 September2004. The purpose of this book is to present current research in modelling nutrient digestion andutilization in cattle, sheep, pigs, poultry and fish.The book is organised into six sections that cover a range of topics and modelling approaches; theseare (i) absorption and passage; (ii) growth and development; (iii) mineral metabolism; (iv) methodology;(v) environmental impact; and (vi) animal production and feed evaluation. Deterministic, stochastic,empirical and mechanistic modelling approaches are described.This book will be of significant interest to researchers and students of animal science, particularly thoseconcerned with nutrition modelling.

This book describes current research in modelling nutrient use in farm animals, from cellular to ecosystem level. The chapters are developed from papers presented at a satellite meeting of the 9th International Symposium on Ruminant Physiology, held in South Africa in October 1999.Excellent papers from a top list of contributorsEditors of great reputationCovers the current topics of interest

Digestion in animals involves mechanical, enzymatic, and microbial processes in the gastrointestinal tract, which convert large feed particles to a size which can be absorbed, transported, and used by the animals. The digestive systems of all farm animals are not the same, rendering them less competitive and able to adapt to a wide range of available feed resource niches. Based on the structure and functions of the digestive tract, farm animals are divided into two major groups: ruminants or polygastrics, e.g. cattle, buffaloes, sheep, and goats; and non-ruminants or monogastrics, e.g. horses, donkeys, rabbits, dogs and cats. The key difference between these two groups of animals lies in the structure of the stomach. Ruminants, as opposed to non ruminants, have three additional stomach compartments where digestion takes place in different environments. In general, for farm animals the processes associated with digestion include prehension, ingestion, grinding or mastication, digestion of feed, absorption of nutrients, and excretion of waste products.Nutrient Digestion and Utilization in Farm Animals to present comprehensive topics on nutrient digestion and utilization in cattle, sheep, pigs, poultry and fish. The book covers a range of topics and modelling approaches; these are absorption and passage; growth and development; mineral metabolism; methodology; environmental impact; and animal production and feed evaluation. Deterministic, stochastic, empirical and mechanistic modelling approaches are described. This book will be of significant interest to researchers and students of animal science, particularly those concerned with nutrition modelling."

Role of mminants in human food production; Whyan animal scientist would choose to model animal systems; Basic organization of this book; Modeling principIes and terminology; Classification of models; Objectives in modeling; The modeling process I objective statements, block diagrams, equation forms and parameterization; Steps in modeling; Setting the modeling objective; Block diagrams; Formulation of mathematical statements; Development of numerical inputs; The modeling process II - solution algorithms, model evaluations and parameter estimation; Model solution algorithms; Evaluation of management and research models; Evaluation and use of analytical models for parameter estimation; Decision support software; Animal energetic models; Thermodynamic concepts in nutrition; Historical development of bases for feeding system models; Energy requirements for maintenance and production; Equations used to estimate maintenance and costs of production; Components of maintenanace; Protein and amino acid models; Current protein and amino acid systems; Analytic models of amino aicd and protein metabolism; Dynamic modeling; Biology and algebraic models of ruminant digestion; The rumen microbes and their metabolism; Balance models of ruminant digestion; An analytical model of rumen digestion; Microbial growth elements; Biology and algebraic models of growth; Classical equations for growth; Nutritional models of growth; Concepts of lhe basic biology of growth used in mechanistic models; Biology of lactation; Decent evolution of feeding systems for lactating dairy cattle; An analytical model of nutrient transactions during lactation; Dynamic models of ruminant digestion; Early dynamic models; Current dynamic models; Dynamic models of ruminant adipose tissue metabolism; Evolution of steady-state balance model; Radioisotope tracer elemets; Dynamic models of ruminant mammary metabolism; Development of model inputs and initial parameters; Descriptions of a model of mammary gland metabolism; Dynamic models of liver and viscera metabolism; Overall structure and notation; Mechanistic, dynamic models of growth; Beef growth models; Sheep growth and metabolism model; Lactation Background on MOLL Y. CSL; The program MOLL Y. CSL; Evaluation and use of a growth and lactation model; Behavioral analyses; Sensitivity analyses; Bioeconomic analyse.