UNIVERSITY OF ZIMBABWE

FACULTY OF VETERINARY SCIENCE

NAME: SHAW TATENDA MUNYANYI

REG NUMBER: R178234M
COURSE: ANIMAL NUTRITION
LECTURER:
DATE:
TITLE: FEED EVALUATION, PROXIMATE ANALYSIS
INTRODUCTION

The laboratory analyses to verify the nutrient content of feeds making up livestock rations.
Provide producers with useful data that can help to: determine the nutrient content of forage,
grain or a total mixed feed, decrease feed costs through lower-cost rations and more efficient
utilization, fertilizer schedules, and time of harvest (age of regrowth), set and monitor
nutrient standards for local and imported.

With respect to complete diet or formulated rations, it is important to conduct proper

sampling, to avoid bias during analysis. ◦ Representative sample ◦ Randomly selected, at
different points, mixedcollective sample ◦ Avoid contamination

Methods of feed analysis 1. Proximate analysis 2. Van Soest and Moore systems

Proximate analysis of feed refers to the determination of the major constituents of feed and it
is used to assess if a feed

is within its normal compositional parameters or somehow been adulterated. This method

partitioned nutrients in feed into 6 components: water, ash, crude protein, ether extract, crude

fibre and NFE

METHODS

1. Ash (This needs to be done even though ash was determined in the previous step,
because that value will not be accurate for the feedstuff because of the steps in which
that sample was boiled in acid and alkali).
1. Weigh an original sample of the feed.
2. Place the sample in an ashing oven at 600 degrees C.
3. Remove, cool and weigh the sample. What remains is ash.
4. Determine the % ash by dividing the quantity of ash by the original sample
weight X 100.
5. Formula %Ash = wt of crucible+ash – wt of crucible

wt of sample

2. Crude Protein - Kjeldahl method

1. Weigh an original sample of the feed
2. Place in a kjeldahl flash and boil with sulfuric acid, converting the N to
(NH4)2SO4.
3. Cool, dilute, neutralize with sodium hydroxide, distill and titrate the distillate
with a known concentration of acid.
4. Multiply the amount of Nitrogen determined by this procedure by 6.25 to
calculate Crude Protein
1. Other, newer methods, such as spectrophotometric ones, sometimes
replace the wet chemistry methods of kjeldahl, but the principle of N X
6.25 remains the same.
 5. Determine the % CP by dividing the quantity of CP by the original sample
weight X 100.

3. Dry matter

1. Weigh an original sample of the feed

2. Place in an over at 90-95 degrees C
3. Remove, cool and weigh the sample. Repeat 1, 2, and 3 until constant weight
is obtained, or follow a previously established protocol that has determined the
proper length of drying time.
4. Calculate water lost by difference between the final sample weight and the
original sample weight.
5. Calculate % water by dividing by the original sample weight X 100.

RESULTS

DISCUSION

CONCLUSION

REFERENCE

Dourmad, J. Y., Étienne, M., Valancogne, A., Dubois, S., van Milgen, J. &
Noblet, J. (2008). InraPorc: a model and decision support tool for the nutrition of
sows. Animal Feed Science and Technology 143, 372-386 •