Feed intake

• Autor(a) principal: Maggioni, Daniele
• Data de Publicação: 2009
• Outros Autores: Marques, Jair de Araújo, Rotta, Polyana Pizzi, Zawadzki, Fernando, Ito, Roberto Haruyoshi, Prado, Ivanor Nunes do
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Semina. Ciências Agrárias (Online)
• Texto Completo: https://ojs.uel.br/revistas/uel/index.php/semagrarias/article/view/4125
• topic: Energy; Extrinsic factors; Intrinsic factors; Protein; Energia; Fatores extrínsecos; Fatores intrínsecos; Proteína

The vast majority of livestock are fed ad libitum, with free access to feed during most of the time. In order to achieve efficient production, it is necessary to raise levels of voluntary feed intake – in general, the more the animal eats, the more it produces and the more efficient it becomes. Intake amounts are guided by nutritional requirements, and an approximate estimate of how much an animal will ingest can be calculated from levels of protein, energy and other nutrients required for maintenance and production. However, there are several factors that can interfere with the concordance between requirements and actual intake, such as feed volume, which can be a determinant factor for achieved intake, especially in ruminants.