Ration Is the amount of food that will provide essential nutrients to an animal in a 24 hour period. To enable that animal to meet its maintenance and production requirements.
Balanced ration ls the ration that contains all the essential nutrients in required amounts and in the right proportion.
Maintenance ration is the portion of a feed required by an animal to continue with the vital body processes with no loss or gain in weight.
Production Ration
Production ration ls the feed required by animals over and above maintenance ration to enable the animal to produce; > for example; milk, eggs, wool, grow in size, perform work, reproduce and fatten.
Steps in ration formulation
- Finding out the animal’s feed requirement based on body weight.
- List all the available feeds, with their nutrient composition and their prices.
- Calculate the amount of ingredients required in the ration to meet the animals needs.
Methods used in ration formulation
- Trial and error method
- Pearson’s square method
- Graphical method
- Linear programming(use of computers)
Examples;
Mix a Pigs ration 22% protein using soya bean meal 40% DCP and maize meal containing 8%DCP.
Pearson’s square method
See also
CLASSIFICATION OF ANIMAL FEEDS
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