Nutrient and Maintenance Requirements

Question 1

what is referred to as the equine nutrition bible?

Answer 1

Equine NRC

Question 2

What does NRC stand for?

Answer 2

National Resource Council

Question 3

Who created the NRC?

Answer 3

National Academy of Science (NAS)

Question 4

how do we determine nutrient requirements?

Answer 4

research, feeding different amount of the nutrient with a standard diet and measure the responses

Question 5

a response variable must be what?

Answer 5

measurable, important, not influenced by other dietary factors

Question 6

can blood concentration of the nutrient of interest act as a response variable?

Answer 6

only sig. for a few nutrients, otherwise it’s poor to use

Question 7

is hair analysis accurate for nutrition?

Answer 7

no, valid for DNA/color typing though

Question 8

what does deficient mean?

Answer 8

poor performance

Question 9

what does marginal mean?

Answer 9

enough to survive, but not perform optimally

Question 10

what is a requirement?

Answer 10

minumum needed for a function

Question 11

what is adequate?

Answer 11

minimum required for a desired response

Question 12

what is optimal?

Answer 12

amount required for max. performance or the response

Question 13

what is excess?

Answer 13

no added benefit or negative effect

Question 14

what is toxic?

Answer 14

measurable signs of excess; negative effects seen

Question 15

does more=better in nutrition?

Answer 15

not always, a plateau is hit when the optimum amount is met; then the response dies during excess before becoming toxic when the response rapidly goes south

Question 16

issues with equine nutrition?

Answer 16

animals, labor, time= expensive!!

Question 17

what must we consider when designing an equine nutrition project?

Answer 17

experimental design for variability

Question 18

are there a lot of studies for specific nutrients across a range of intakes?

Answer 18

no

Question 19

what is the issue with minimum requirements?

Answer 19

deficiency signs can take months to develop

Question 20

what is the issue with finding maintenance requirements?

Answer 20

this is very easy to measure! results in no net gain or loss

Question 21

how can maintenance requirements be estimated?

Answer 21

feces, urine, sweat, respiratory, heat, etc.

Question 22

does nutrient availability affect requirements?

Answer 22

yes, example: if 100% is available 10g is needed, 50% then 20g needed

Question 23

what is the nutritionist dilemma?

Answer 23

not enough= underfed, too much=overfed

Question 24

risks with underfeeding?

Answer 24

reduced performance, health, or production

Question 25

risks with overfeeding?

Answer 25

excess excretion into environment

Question 26

better to over or under feed?

Answer 26

over!!

Question 27

in the ideal world everyone would do what?

Answer 27

test soil and forage (bulk buy forage) balance diets using NRC and tools, assess BCS and weigh

Question 28

in the real world what happens?

Answer 28

trust forage quality, feed to bag reccomendations, assess BCS and weight

Question 29

who invented BCS?

Answer 29

Dr. Henneke at TAMU (1983)

Question 30

what is the BCS scoring range?

Answer 30

1-9

Question 31

what is BCS measuring?

Answer 31

fat depostion

Question 32

what regions do we look at when measuring BCS?

Answer 32

withers, elbow, ribs, crease down back, loin, and tailhead

Question 33

what is the weight estimation formula?

Answer 33

(HGxHGxBL)/ 330 (mature) 301 (yearling) 280 (weanling)

Question 34

what order do we assess equine nutrition?

Answer 34

assess BCS, weight estimation, current diet evalution, make gradual changes if needed

Question 35

what are the DE requirements for average, minimum, and elevated metabolism?

Answer 35

average: 0.0333
minimum: 0.0303
elevated: 0.0363

Question 36

what is the DE Assessment formula?

Answer 36

BW x constant= DE requirements