Proceedings of the E-Conference on animal nutrition practices published by FAO

The proceedings of the E-Conference on "Successes and failures with animal nutrition practices and technologies in developing countries", organised in September 2010 by FAO’s Animal Production and Health Division have been published.

The aim of the E-Conference was to take stock of the current status on approaches and practices related to animal nutrition and draw conclusions for the future by analyzing the reasons for success or failure of these different practices in the field. The E-conference focused on experiences in developing countries, and covered nutrition practices for both ruminants and monogastric animals, although most of the contributions from participants focused on ruminants. Participants comprised researchers, representatives from both government and non-government organisations, and also private sector representatives with an interest in livestock development.

The document attempts to detail appropriate animal nutrition technologies suitable for South Asia, and thereby contribute to decision making. A related objective is the setting up of a learning platform for livestock development practitioners and technical support and donor agencies.

The proceedings include a synthesis paper summarising the major issues discussed by participants and lessons learnt for the future.

Some of the key chapters in the publication include changes in the animal nutrition paradigm needed to benefit resource-poor farmers; urea treatment of straw and production of multi-nutrient and low-cost feed blocks; food-feed-systems for smallholder livestock farmers; low-cost silage technology to increase milk production and farmers income; utilisation of tannin-containing tree leaves in sheep and goat production and the economic utilisation of saline marginal lands for animal production.

The proceedings (pdf format) can be downloaded from the following link on the FAO website: http://www.fao.org/docrep/014/i2270e/i2270e00.pdf

Source: FAO. 2011. Successes and failures with animal nutrition practices and technologies in developing countries. Proceedings of the FAO Electronic Conference, 1-30 September 2010, Rome, Italy. Edited by Harinder P.S. Makkar. FAO Animal Production and Health Proceedings. No. 11. Rome, Italy.

Contributed by - Coordination Team