NUTRITION AND FEED

Integrated educational activity

Course Sheet

Academic Year of enrolment:

2022/2023

Optional/Mandatory:

Compulsory

Degree:

5-year Single Cycle Master's Degree Programme in VETERINARY MEDICINE

Language:

Italian

Moduls:

ANIMAL NUTRITION

3 credits
ALIMENTAZIONE ANIMALE

4 credits
FEEDS FOR ANIMALS

3 credits

Credits:

Programme Year:

Obligatory attendance:

Yes

Hours of classroom activity:

100

Prerequisites:

Knowledge and competences of:
- Physics
- Chemistry
- Biochemistry
- Botany
- Anatomy
- Physiology
The course interfaces with some aspects of animal welfare and health, reproduction and production, pathologies and clinics.

AF code:

40200702

Assessment Methods

Verification of learning:

The end term evaluation aims to ascertain the level of knowledge and competences acquired by the student on the main aspects of the animal nutrition and feeding and on the main characteristics, evaluation and utilization of the most common feeds utilized in the animals diets.
Mid-term evaluations: the students who attend the course can undergo written tests with multiple choice and opened questions (once a month); the students who pass them do not have to undergo the end term written test. End-term evaluations: written test with multiple choice and opened questions followed by oral and practical exam.
During the verification of the results (mid-term and/or end-term) the student must demonstrate:
- to possess knowledge and ability which allow him to develop and/or apply original ideas in the context of nutrition and animal feeding;
- to possess the ability to apply this knowledge and autonomously solve problems related to new or unfamiliar issues;
- have critical judgment skills and integrate knowledge of animal nutrition and feeding and manage the complexity of the links with other veterinary disciplines also in terms of food supply chain safety and One Health;
- have the ability to communicate clearly and without ambiguity to specialist and non-specialist interlocutors using correct and appropriate terminology, seminars and written reports along the course will be very useful at this aim;
- have acquired the ability to lifelong learning independently and be able to use the acquired knowledge to interpret cases or new aspects in the field of nutrition and animal feeding through available sources and a solid mind organization.
The course contributes to develop the Day One Competences (DOC), which can be used from the first day of work:
- Promote, monitor and maintain health and safety in the veterinary setting; demonstrate knowledge of systems of quality assurance; apply principles of risk management to the field of animals feeding (DOC 1.3).
- Communicate effectively with clients, the public, professional colleagues and responsible authorities, using language appropriate to the audience concerned and in full respect of confidentiality and privacy (DOC 1.4).
- Work effectively as a member of a multi-disciplinary team in the delivery of services related to the animals feeding (DOC 1.6).
- Be able to review and evaluate critically literature and presentations dealing with the animal nutrition and feeding (DOC 1.8).
- Use their professional capabilities in animal nutrition and feeding to contribute to the advancement of veterinary knowledge and One Health concept, in order to improve animal health and welfare, the quality of animal care and veterinary public health (DOC 1.10).
- Demonstrate that they recognise personal and professional limits, and know how to seek professional advice, assistance and support when necessary (DOC 1.12).
- Assess the physical condition, welfare and nutritional status of an animal or group of animals and advise the client on principles of husbandry and feeding (DOC 1.20).
- The principles of disease prevention and the promotion of health and welfare within a correct and appropriate feeding (DOC 2.9).

Teaching period

Single Annual Cycle

Objectives

During the Integrated Course, the student will have the opportunity to acquire knowledge and skills on Animal Nutrition and Feeding of the main species of veterinary interest and livestock in the various vital and/or production phases. The Integrated Course allows students to develop highly distinctive skills for the veterinary profession in an increasingly globalized context, aiming to satisfy countless aspects of correct Animal Nutrition and Feeding in consideration and compliance with current legislation, ethics, circularity and sustainability, environmental protection and impact from a perspective prevention, animal health and welfare, safety in the food supply chain and One Health.
The following aspects will be mainly considered: nutritional status; needs and nutritional inputs effects of deficit and surplus; syndromes and pathologies of origin or of a nutritional/feeding background; nutraceutical, nutrigenomic and endocrine-metabolic interferences of nutrients/feeds; main analysis and chemical-nutritional characteristics of feeds; digestibility and nutritive value of feeds; rumen degradability; absorption, metabolism and role of nutrients in the animal organism; animals nutritive requirements; voluntary feed intake; animal feeds and agro-industrial by-products/co-products classification, main characteristics, evaluation and utilization in animal feeding with a view to sustainability and circular economy; preservation, treatment, preparation and administration of feeds; feed additives and integrators; sampling, traceability, quality, risks and safety of animal feed; feeding and elements for feed rationing in the most common animal species of veterinary interest and livestock in the various life and/or productive stages; feeding, animal health and welfare; prevention of the most common feeding mistakes and pathologies of feeding origin; relationships between livestock feeding, productive performance and quality of products of animal origin; animal feeding circularity, sustainability, environmental impact and protection.

Contents

The teaching activity will be done in the hours set by the course calendar and it includes
Frontal lessons (69 hours)
One lesson will be dedicated to addressing issues related to the risk prevention and security in the laboratory and on farm practices.
Fundamentals of Veterinary and Comparative Nutrition. Nutritional biodiversity. Nutritional ecology and ethics of animal nutrition.
Concepts of animal response to different nutritional strategies. Fundamentals of Nutrigenomics and Metabolomics.
Nutraceutical strategies and nutritional prophylaxis. Nutritional biochemistry and homeostasis. Nutrients and endocrine disruptors.
The classes of nutrients and energy density of rationing. The Atwater coefficients and the prediction equations of energy. Concepts of energy and nutritional needs by physiological and production phases.
Methods of expression of classical and modern energy. Software for calculating energy and nutrient requirements and supplies.
Excesses and deficiencies of nutrients. Metabolic syndromes and other nutritional disorders.
Fundamentals of practical nutrition for animal dietetics.
Animal nutrition concepts for legislation. Nutritional safety for animals, for production and animal-human interaction. The One Health concept.
Sustainability, environmental compatibility of nutritional strategies and alternative sources of nutrients.
Classification and main chemical-nutritional characteristics of the most common animal feeds.
Fresh roughages, conservation techniques, preserved forages, concentrates, agro-industrial by-products/co-products as feeds, feed additives and integrators.
Main treatments of feeds, preparation and administration.
Feeds traceability, sampling, quality evaluation, safety and utilization; assessment and prevention of risks associated with their utilization (biotic and abiotic contaminants).
Feeding and elements for dietary rationing in the main species of veterinary interest and livestock in the various life/productive stages (growth/fattening, reproduction, gestation and lactation, working/sport). Newborn feeding, milking, weaning. Voluntary feed intake and palatability, nutritive level, feed conversion rate.
Forage/concentrates ratio in herbivores. Total mixed ration.
Relationship of feeding with animal health, welfare, productive performances and products quality.
Prevention of the most common feeding mistakes and pathologies of feeding origin.
Animals feeding and circular economy, sustainability, environmental impact and protection.
Risks and safety of feeds for animals and animal feeding with a view to prevention and protection of animal health and welfare, safety in the food supply chain from a preventive and One Health perspective.
Practical lessons (30 hours + Orientation course 25 hours)
Nutritional evaluation of animals according to physiological state and production level in livestock and pets (species accounted: cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, horses, dogs and cats). At the first entry into the paddock, issues related to the correct approach to the animal are addressed, which are essential to ensure a correct relationship and to achieve sufficient safety for student’s movement, avoiding animal’s distress and situations of potential danger for the safety of both the figures (man/animal). Use of software for the estimation of requirements of energy and nutrients DOC acquired: Handle and restrain animal patient safely and with respect of the animal, and instruct others in helping the veterinarian perform this technique (1.16). DOC acquired: Correctly apply the principles of biosecurity (1.28).
Sampling and evaluation of feeds.
Animals feeding and elements of feed rationing of the most common species of veterinary interest and livestock.
Written reports and seminars.

Recommended Bibliography

Notes of the lectures held during the course, slides of the lectures, bibliographical references, books and tutorials will be suggested during the lectures.
Antongiovanni – Gualtieri - Nutrizione e alimentazione animale. Edagricole
Borgioli – Nutrizione e alimentazione degli animali domestici. Edagricole
McDonald, Greenhalgh - Animal Nutrition- Longman scientific & technical
I.N.R.A. - Alimentation des bovins, ovins & caprins. Ed. I.N.R.A., Paris, 1988.
Dell’Orto – Savoini – Alimentazione della vacca da latte. Edagricole
Pulina – Alimentazione degli ovini da latte. Avenue Media
Pulina – Alimentazione della capra da latte. Avenue Media
Piccioni - Dizionario degli Alimenti per il Bestiame. Edagricole
Assalzoo - Normativa sugli alimenti per animali. Edagricole
M. Antongiovanni, A. Buccioni, M. Mele -Nutrizione e alimentazione degli animali in produzione zootecnica. Bovini, suini e polli. Edagricole, 2019
AA. VV. - Manuale di Nutrizione dei Ruminanti da Latte. EdiSES, 2020
G. Biagi, B Chiofalo, M. I. Cutrignelli, A. De Angelis, E. Fusi, G. Meineri, L. Prola, R. Ricci, M. Sandri - Nutrizione e alimentazione del cane e del gatto. Edagricole, 2021
P McDonald, R A Edwards, J F D Greenhalgh, C A Morgan, L A Sinclair, R G Wilkinson - ANIMAL NUTRITION. 11 EDITION, 2011. Pearson ed. Nutrient requirements of Dogs and Cats, NRC 2006
Nutrient requirements of the Horse, NRC 2007
Nutrirent requirements of Swine, 2012
Supplement Tiernaeruhng, Kamphues et al., 2019. Verlag H. &M. Schaper.1
Other bibliographical references, books and tutorials will be suggested during the course.

Methods of Provision

Conventional

Teaching Methods

The course will be held with face to face lectures, lab and on field “hands on” practical training, written reports and seminars, aiming to develop in the student the ability and autonomy on the fundamentals of nutrition and feeding of the animals of veterinary interest and livestock.
The face-to-face lessons will take place in person (even remotely only in cases where ministerial and/or University regulations allow it following a request from interested parties).
The practical lessons will take place directly involving each student:
- educational paths will be set up supported by video contributions with practical activities directly involving each student in the application of what they have learned;
- in the laboratory and animal facilities, in person for groups of 15 students;
- in person in the company for groups of 15 students.

Contacts/More Information

Attending the lectures and undergoing the mid-term written tests are particularly useful.

Reception hours: every day at the hours free from lessons and other institutional commitments. The meetings will be available even via Teams, making an appointment by e-mail, which is recommanded even for in-person meetings. Online tutoring at the e-mail: moniello@uniss.it and mgcappai@uniss.it through the Teams platform, by appointment.

NUTRITION AND FEED

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NUTRITION AND FEED