Nutrition and Food in the Reproduction of Cattle | Biomedgrid

At the beginning of the 1980s, a series of very profound changes were initiated in the milk cow nutrition approaches, because of the highest levels of production per cow that were reached by the productive systems of the northern hemisphere. Nutrition is defined as the series of processes through which an organism acquires and assimilates food to promote its growth and replace worn or damaged tissues. The nutrients are fundamental for the animals to carry out their different productive functions When we consider the aspects that touch the field of nutrition of ruminants, we understand the importance of this group of animals of zootechnical interest, which can process plant components that are not consumed by other mammals, the structural carbohydrates (fiber). Ruminant comes from the word “rumen”, which is the largest of the compartments in the stomach of four compartments of a bovine, sheep or goat. This structure is where microbial fermentation takes place. The ruminants, through evolutionary processes, developed life relationships with microorganisms which enabled them to use fiber as food, that is, they developed in some way their “food factory”. They eat the forage to be transformed by the rumen's microbiota into substances that are the source of energy for the animal and for the microbial synthesis, the microbial cells are an excellent source of proteins for the animal. However, the processes that make the ruminal microbiota are, in a certain way, inefficient. Grass degradation produces volatile fatty acids, microbial protein and gases. Within these gases, some are environmental pollutants such as CO2, methane and nitrous oxide.