Feeds rich in cellulose in ruminant and non-ruminant nutrition

Because man is monogastric, much of the world's plant production cannot be used by him directly as food. This applies not only to pasture and forest produce but also to a considerable part of the produce of arable land (bran, beet- and citrus pulp, oilseed residues, etc.). With the present methods of agriculture, maximal production of food for mankind can best be obtained by a combination of plant and animal husbandry, as will be shown. This is mainly due to the fact that ruminants (through their symbiosis with microbes) can utilize feeds rich in cullulose.

Even ruminants often have difficulty in utilizing such feeds, as their volume and slow digestion lower voluntary intake and as the nutritive value of the ingested feed per kg is often low. Some physiological data are presented which determine the rate of this digestion. Any treatment which would speed up and improve digestion would result in a higher productivity of these animals. Several methods are known for this purpose. To test their effectiveness, trials with animals have to be performed but analytical laboratory measurements are also useful. Such teniques were discussed at a recent EEC workshop at Lelystad, which is reported.

Research with pigs fed with higher contents of cellulose id presented and suggestions are made as to how these animals might benefit from treatments of these feeds.