IMPACT OF NUTRITION ON ANIMAL WELFARE
Muskan Gaur1 & Brijesh Nanda2
- Ist Year B.V.Sc. & A.H. Scholar, Apollo College of Veterinary Medicine, Jaipur
- Assistant Professor, Department of LPM, Apollo College of Veterinary Medicine, Jaipur
Introduction:-
Cattle and sheep were first domesticated approximately 9000 years ago and were unique amongst domesticated livestock in their ability to produce both milk and meat for human consumption as well as being used for work in some instances. Their use for sustained milk production required a regular and plentiful supply of nutrients, hence dairying developed mainly in regions able to produce good quality feed. However, beef cattle, and dual purpose cattle and sheep are kept in some of the world’s less hospitable regions to produce meat and milk, including drought-prone regions and areas with extreme high and low temperatures.
Discussion:-
Animal nutrition welfare focuses on meeting nutritional requirements like carbohydrates, fatty acids, minerals and vitamins to correct deficiencies in basic diet and livestock in maintaining acceptable performance. Nutrition is not only the availability of the correct quantity of feed (“gut filling”). It is the process of providing and obtaining the food necessary for the health and growth of animals.
Undue restrictions of feed and water are recognized as important adverse influences on animal welfare. Malnutrition arises when an animal is given access to a food that is not adequately balanced to meet its physiological needs such that it impairs normal functionality. Malnutrition from imbalanced feed can result in a number of conditions including ill health, nausea, depression and negative affective states, all of which can cause pain and suffering and hence lower welfare. Interestingly, the reverse is also true: a status of illness, particularly in case of depression and anorexic conditions, means a lower dry matter intake, often associated with reduced feed digestibility, with some risks for future health (extended period of time under energy deficiency, protein, mineral and vitamin depletion). This implies that not only lack of feed or water, and not only nutrient deficiency, but all the causes of tissue damage and/or disease (i.e. feed quality, nutrient excesses causing obesity or digestive disorders), can result in pain and suffering leading to compromise welfare . Undue restrictions of feed and water are recognized as important adverse influences on animal welfare. Nutritional wellbeing and behaviour are interrelated in ways that are not obvious when scientists or managers focus strictly on nutrition or behavior. However, animals in a farm environment often feed in a social group, which involves competition between group members for access to the feed. Feed intake may also depend on the presentation of the feed, the previous experience of the animal with a given feed, and to what extent other, competing motivations affect the behavior of the animal. For all the above, it is argued that the disciplines of nutrition and animal behaviour need to be integrated in order to more fully consider the implications of feeding behavior and nutrition on animal wellbeing.
Conclusion:-
We may reiterate that animals deserve to live and nutrition plays an important role in animal welfare and animal should be healthy physically and mentally and it should be feed with adequate nutrient supply to maintain the animal’s health. Animal welfare is human responsibility and it should be done with utmost care.
