This specially curated collection features five reviews of current and key research on crops as livestock feed.
The first chapter reviews the impact of feeding ruminants cereal grains on animal physiology and health. The chapter explores the use of starch-containing cereal grains as a feedstuff to improve animal efficiency and performance, as well as to reduce the environmental footprint of ruminant animal production.
The second chapter discusses key environmental trade-offs in the use of crops as livestock feed. It reviews key elements in trade-off analysis and explores opportunities for making better use of existing feed resources and producing more feed biomass of higher fodder quality.
The third chapter reviews ways of optimising the use of barley for animal feed, from production and breeding through to the application of new technologies such as near infrared spectroscopy and molecular markers.
The fourth chapter reviews the use of sorghum as an important source of fodder and forage. It reviews the different types of sorghum used for forage and other applications, and then provides a detailed discussion of the use of forage sorghum as feed for ruminants.
The final chapter discusses the use of soybean meal (SBM) as an animal feed. It assesses the nutritional content of SBM, as well dealing with its anti-nutritive compounds in optimising its use.
Chapter 1 - The use of feedlot/cereal grains in improving feed efficiency and reducing by-products such as methane in ruminants: Kristin Hales, US Meat Animal Research Center – USDA-ARS, USA; Jeferson Lourenco, Darren S. Seidel, Osman Yasir Koyun, Dylan Davis and Christina Welch, University of Georgia, USA; James E. Wells, US Meat Animal Research Center – USDA-ARS, USA; and Todd R. Callaway, University of Georgia, USA; 1 Introduction 2 Types of cereal grains fed to cattle 3 Cereal grain production 4 Dietary factors affecting methane production by ruminants 5 The role of starch and forage in methane formation 6 H2 sinks in the rumen and methane production 7 Using cereal grains to improve feed efficiency and reduce methane production 8 Microbiology of cereal grain fermentation 9 Bacteria and archaea involved in fermentation 10 Feed retention time 11 Acidosis and other negative feed effects 12 Summary 13 Where to look for further information 14 References Chapter 2 - The use and abuse of cereals, legumes and crop residues in rations for dairy cattle: Michael Blümmel, International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Ethiopia; A. Muller, Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL), and ETH Zürich Switzerland; C. Schader, Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL), Switzerland; M. Herrero, Commonwealth Scientifi c and Industrial Research Organization, Australia; and M. R. Garg, National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), India; 1 Introduction 2 Current and future levels of animal sourced food (ASF) production 3 Dairy ration compositions and current and projected feed demand and supply 4 Context specifi city of feed demand and supply 5 Ration composition and ceilings to milk productivity 6 Optimizing the feed–animal interface: ration balancing in intensive and extensive dairy systems 7 Summary 8 Where to look for further information 9 References Chapter 3 - Optimising the use of barley as an animal feed: David M. E. Poulsen, Queensland University of Technology, Australia; 1 Introduction 2 What is ‘feed barley’? 3 What do we want from ‘feed barley‘? 4 Optimising feed barley use 5 Understanding and optimising feed barley quality for different livestock species 6 Future trends and research opportunities 7 Conclusion 8 Where to look for further information 9 References Chapter 4 - Sorghum as a forage and energy crop: Scott Staggenborg and Hui Shen, Chromatin Inc., USA; 1 Introduction 2 Forage and biomass sorghum types 3 Forages as animal feed 4 Dedicated energy sorghum 5 Sweet sorghum 6 Summary 7 Where to look for further information 8 References Chapter 5 - Nutritional considerations for soybean meal use in poultry diets: Justin Fowler, University of Georgia, USA; 1 Introduction 2 Nutritional content of SBM 3 Anti-nutritive compounds 4 Genetically modified soybeans 5 Conclusion and future trends 6 Where to look for further information 7 References
Dr Poulsen is currently Director of Poulsen Beechwood Consulting Pty Ltd and a visiting researcher at the Queensland University of Technology, Australia. He has previously been a member of the Barley Breeding Australia Board from 2007 to 2011; chairing the Board for the 2007/08 and 2008/09 financial years.
