In recent years, the average consumer has become much more aware of the composition of food. Medical opinion, that diets high in fibre and low in fat are likely to result in longer and healthier lives, has provided the food industry with new market sectors and, hence, the need for new product development.

The dairy industry in the United Kingdom has, in the main, been slow to react to this challenge and has left the remainder of the food industry to manipulate the composition of the final product. At one time, the inclusion of 100 g butter per kg margarine was deemed to be a sales advantage but today the consumer believes it is a disadvantage. The cholesterol and saturated fats discussion has obviously been put forward with great fervour by members of the food industry who have sought to gain advantage. The reaction of the dairy industry has been to take a defensive stand rather than to conduct research and promote the nutritional advantage of milk and milk products. This attitude is changing, fortunately, and new dairy products are being developed and marketed aggressively. The belief of the dairy industry, that only new products containing milk ingredients alone would be manufactured, is no longer true and a whole range of new dairy-based products, incorporating varying amounts of other food ingredients, is appearing.

The latest developments in dairy technology are resulting in some new raw materials derived from milk, specially designed for specific uses in the food industry. This paper reviews some of these developments against the background of milk composition, industrial production and market consumption.

A wide variety of equine compound feeds are now available, aimed at simplifying the feeding of horses, by removing the need for detailed nutritional calculations previously necessary with ‘straights’. It is assumed that the majority of feed sales are based on the name of the manufacturer and the branding of the individual product rather than the nutritional content. Research in equine nutrition has accelerated in the last decade and a greater academic understanding of equine nutrition has now been reached (Pagan 1998; Pagan 2001; Lawrence 2001). It appears that an ever-widening gap is being created between academic research and the end consumers, with regard to ration formulation and the nutritional requirements of horses. This gap is mainly being bridged by the compound feed manufacturers who are widely trusted to deliver correctly balanced compound feed. The objective of the present study is to investigate energy levels and sources of energy in compound feeds against peer-reviewed research standard levels (NRC 1989; Lawrence 2001) to ascertain whether feed manufacturers are delivering metabolically efficient and nutritionally balanced sources of energy in compound feeds for horses.

The pre-requisites for nutritional management of dairy cows are information about how much feed is being consumed as well as the nutrients that are being derived from that feed. Studies of feed intake and nutrient supply have been limited by difficult experimental techniques, particularly with grazing animals. The models derived from much earlier work are of only general applicability and there is a need for more site-specific information in order to benefit further from conceptual advances.

We have adopted a different approach to studying herbage intake and nutrient supply, using less-invasive approaches as well as techniques that monitor more accessible aspects of these processes, such as jaw movements. These techniques have a major advantage, in addition to their value as research tools, because they could translate directly into commercial applications in on-farm monitoring. The use of diagnostics and behavioural recording is well explored in relation to health monitoring; here we argue for its potential to advance the application of knowledge about grazing and nutrition. We will illustrate this approach using our experiences in measuring grazing behaviour, using IGER behaviour recorders and assessing rumen function, using a series of non-invasive techniques.

The IGER grazing behaviour recorder allows us to record jaw movements and hence grazing and ruminating time and bite dynamics. It also allows the recording of steps and is now being developed to incorporate non-invasive rumen state sensors. It has made a major contribution to our understanding of the foraging strategies of grazing animals and their effect on herbage intake. This technology has the potential to be developed for on-farm monitoring of foraging behaviour providing valuable inputs to the prediction of herbage intake, in decision support systems for grazing.

The introduction of concept of protein degradation and microbial synthesis in the rumen are significant advances in protein rationing schemes. However, real progress has been limited because the lack of consistent experimental results means that models have little relevance to specific farm situations. We foresee considerable opportunities to monitor products of rumen degradation and synthesis that appear in milk (e.g. odd-chain fatty acids) or breath (e.g. sulphides).

Taken together these technologies open the possibilities of an entirely new approach to nutritional management of dairy cows, with site-specific recommendations based on information gathered using new sensors that are incorporated into computerised feeding equipment and milking parlours.

Surface type has a recognised effect on the biomechanics of a horse, yet suitability of surfaces to discipline has not been fully substantiated. Ideal exercise surface conditions should be a balance of energy absorption to minimise concussion and energy return to aid performance (Barrey et al., 1999) and these conditions vary according to type of work. Greater force on a particular limb will increase the probability of injury, especially in sports that are repetitive in nature, such as show jumping. It is well known that high impact forces occur during the landing phase of jumping (Meershoek et al., 2001); investigation of this phase is therefore integral to understanding the effect that surface has on horses that jump. Maximal fetlock extension may be useful as an indicator of magnitude of ground reaction forces (Clayton, 1997). This means that in-field studies can be used to measure maximal fetlock extension as a guide to forces placed on the limb.

Due to the wide variation in both the productivity of sheep systems and the quality of the food resources that they utilize, the formulation of successful feeding strategies for individual flocks during pregnancy and lactation is best achieved from a knowledge of how these physiological states affect food digestion and nutrient utilization. This paper reviews recent data on the principles of food digestion and nutrient utilization in the breeding ewe and translates them into practical feeding regimens that take account of forage quality, the amount and quality of the concentrate supplement and the contribution that body and dietary lipids can make to production.

Chickens have been selected for millenniums on their ability to select food in complex and variable environments. Artificial selection for juvenile body weight using a single balanced food might have modified the ability of chickens to adapt to a choice feeding situation (Siegel and Dunnington, 1990). However, diet selection for protein has been demonstrated in many recently published experiments (for review: Forbes and Shariatmadari, 1994).

Breeding strategies for sustainable livestock production in developing countries are discussed with reference to breeding objectives in more uniform environments of temperate regions and to those in stressful and highly variable environments of the tropics. The relative importance of breeding objectives to be based not on single performance traits but also on fitness traits is discussed in relation to production efficiency. With particular reference to breeding strategies for dairy production the following aspects are referred to: assessment of scope for performance improvement; the rôle of local breeds in stressful environments; the need for potential assessment and options for breed improvement; the use of exotic breeds; and the need for comparative field performance test as part of improvement schemes.

In the last few years there has been an increasing concern regarding the use of antibiotics in ruminant feeding and the potential for selection of antibiotic-resistant pathogen micro-organisms. Some authors (Martin and Streeter, 1995; Callaway and Martin, 1996) suggested that organic acids (aspartate, fumarate, malate) potentially provide an alternative to currently used antimicrobial compounds. Several in vitro studies (Martin and Streeter, 1995; Callaway and Martin, 1996) showed that incorporation of DL-malate into fermentations with both Selenomonas ruminantium HD4 and with mixed ruminal micro-organisms resulted in changes in final pH, methane and volatile fatty acids (VFA) that are analogous to ionophore effects. Nisbet and Martin (1993) hypothesized that malate acted as an electron sink for hydrogen. However, the mechanism of action is not well known. Malate is a key intermediate in the succinate-propionate pathway and therefore could stimulate propionate production. The objective of this study was to study the effects of DL-malate and propionate on the in vitro rumen fermentation of a 50:50 foragexoncentrate diet.

The study was carried out using the rumen simulation technique (RUSITEC) following the general incubation procedure described by Czerkawski and Breckenridge (1977). The complete unit consisted of eight vessels with an effective volume of 700 ml each. The vessels inocula (solid and liquid) were obtained from three ruminally fistulated ewes given a diet consisting of 700 g alfalfa hay and 300 g concentrate per kg dry matter (DM) (Table 1) and transferred to the RUSITEC system within 30 min of the 1st day of the experiment. The flow through the vessels was maintained by continuous infusion of artificial saliva at a rate of 533 ml/day. Each vessel received daily a nylon bag containing 7 g alfalfa hay, 7 g concentrate and 0·10 g vitaminsminerals mix. From the 1st day of incubation three vessels received daily 5·62 mmol DL-malate (disodium salt; Sigma-Aldrich Quimica, S.A., Spain), three vessels received 5·62 mmol of propionate (monosodium salt; Sigma-Aldrich Quimica, S.A., Spain) and two vessels received no addition (control). DL-malate and propionate were weighed into the nylon bags and carefully mixed with the food.

A greater understanding of the population characteristics of sport horse populations is required to enable potential breed improvement programmes to be formulated correctly and be effective in their outcomes. To date limited research has been conducted into the UK sport horse population.

A selected group of progeny (n=339) sired by elite eventing stallions was examined. In the context of this study elite sires were defined as those that were ranked 1-10 by total lifetime points won by competing progeny up to the end of 2000 (British Horse Database, 2000). Comparative analysis was undertaken between the selected group and all competing eventing horses in 2000 (n=9387) (British Horse Database, 2000). Data collected for both groups included, total lifetime points won at eventing and dressage and total lifetime money won at show jumping. Basic descriptive statistics were produced for each data set (Table 1). Product moment correlations were performed for all discipline areas (Table 2). Data transformation was applied using LOG+1(Hassenstein, Roehe, and Kalm, 1996).

In sub-Saharan Africa mixed crop-livestock systems predominate in the semi-arid, sub-humid and cool highland zones. In these areas, systems intensify and crops and livestock become increasingly integrated as the human population increases and land becomes a more important constraint than labour (Boserup, 1965; McIntire et al., 1992). As intensification progresses, use of crop residues moves from open access to crop fields, following harvest, to labour intensive management of cereals as dual-purpose crops.

By definition, the essential trace elements are required in very small amounts for optimum body function. The list of essential trace elements is steadily increasing, partly due to improved methods for the detection of very low concentrations and partly to the creation of experimental environments from which such elements can be excluded so that their essential properties can be demonstrated. However, this paper is considering field problems, and discussion will be limited to those elements which are known to be associated with disease in cattle and sheep. Pigs and poultry will be excluded because the major proportion are fed adequate amounts of the trace elements in compounded diets. In contrast, most of the sheep and a large proportion of the cattle population are heavily dependent on home-grown feeds, often only grass or grass products, and these animals are most at risk. Without supplementation, the intake of trace elements is dependent on the concentration in the herbage. It has been estimated that grassland provides almost three quarters of the total crude protein for ruminants in Britain and cereals provide another eighth. We must assume that home-grown feeds are a major contribution to animal diets.

A common feature of nutritional models developed in the last three decades is that estimates of energy and protein are generally made independent of each other, even though interactions between them are recognized.

Most of the energy systems have adopted metabolizable energy (ME) or net energy (NE) as the unit for energy evaluation. Accurate measurement of the ME content of a food requires in vivo digestibility measurements using cattle or sheep, with methane losses either measured or predicted. This approach is clearly unsuitable for routine food evaluation and most systems predict the ME content from chemical analyses, using regression equations derived from calorimetric measurements.

The new generation of protein systems recognize the need to consider, separately, the energy and nitrogen requirements of the rumen micro-organisms and the protein requirements of the host animal. Despite this common base, systems differ markedly in estimates of energy supply to rumen bacteria, the degree to which dietary protein is degraded in the rumen, microbial protein yield and the digestibility of the microbial and undegraded dietary protein.

Although empirically based, current protein systems contain dynamic elements relating to rates of fermentation and protein degradation. In most cases, data have been derived using the in situ nylon bag technique, although this has major limitations. Recent developments in the gas production technique suggest that this approach has the potential for describing fermentation and degradation rates of individual foods.

To be effective, energy and protein systems need to describe foods in units that are both easily understood by non-specialists and can be measured using procedures that are rapid, reliable and cost effective. Near infra-red reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) can be both rapid and cost effective and there is evidence that it may be able to predict not only proximate analyses but also dynamic characteristics of foods.

A significant portion of ruminant production in the tropics relies on the grazing of native grasses growing in acid, low-fertility soils. Under these conditions, animal production is generally limited by the low quality and availability of forage supply. The introduction of forage legumes into grazing systems is commonly accepted as a way to alleviate this problem. However, many of the tropical forage legumes adapted to acid soils and selected on the basis of good agronomic performance have limited feeding value. This could be associated with increased production of secondary metabolites such as condensed tannins (CT), which have the ability to bind and precipitate proteins, carbohydrates and other molecules (Mueller-Harvey and McAllan, 1992). High intake of CT by ruminants has been associated with depressed intake and reduced digestibilities of protein and cell wall of temperate (Barry and Duncan, 1984; Pritchard et al, 1988) and tropical (Carulla, 1994) forage legumes. However, more recent work showed that intake and digestibility of tropical legumes was not only influenced by CT concentration but also by cell wall content (Barahona et al, 1997). In the ongoing process of identifying legume germplasm for acid soils, the use of in vitro techniques has been of great benefit. Gas production methods have considerable appeal in this respect due to their ability to evaluate digestion kinetics and their potential to simulate digestion processes in the rumen. Pendong et al. (1996) using temperate forages, showed that the pressure transducer gas technique of Theodorou et al. (1994) could be used to assess digestible organic matter disappearance as well as fermentation kinetics. A similar assessment was undertaken in the current study in which the tannin contents and cell-wall characteristics of tanniniferous legumes from Colombia were determined and related using measurements made in laboratories in Colombia and the United Kingdom.

The poultry meat industry, in continual pursuit of improved efficiency, has demanded rapid growth rate. Primary breeding companies have responded to industry pressure and growth rate has increased in an almost linear fashion. Despite the obvious advantages to industry profitability, it can be argued that increased growth has placed more emphasis on the demand tissues of growth than those systems or organs that supply the substrates for rapid growth and/or are essential to support the increase in body mass. One of the consequences is that modern broilers are not as adaptable to their environments as their predecessors were. Rapid growth has also produced problems not seen in slower growing birds. Skeletal and cardiovascular disease (sudden death syndrome (SDS), ascites) are examples of growth related problems. Although it can not be said that rapid growth automatically will result in these problems, there is no doubt that the!re is a relationship.

The main objective when considering dietary energy levels in the dairy cow is to achieve optimum economical milk production, not necessarily energy balance, at all stages of lactation. Some cows may attain energy balance by reducing milk yield.

In the early part of lactation, while appetite is increasing, a negative energy balance is acceptable, particularly in the high-yielding cow, at the expense of body reserves. During this time and up to peak yield, maximum use must be made of the cow's feeding capacity in order to attain its full milking potential. This is important, since the peak yield considerably influences the rest of the lactation, as concluded by Broster (1972).

Failure to achieve a sufficient energy intake in early lactation may be reflected in excessive weight loss as well as in reduced milk production, whereas in the post-peak period, too rapid body-weight gain may be associated with over-generous feeding.

Analysis of molecular genetic diversity in livestock potentially allows for rational management of genetic resources experiencing the serious pressures now facing the livestock sector. The potentially damaging effects of genetic erosion are an ongoing threat, both through loss of breeding stock during the 2001 FMD crisis and potentially as a result of the ongoing National Scrapie Plan. These factors and an increasing focus through the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) on the conservation of animal genetic resources force us to consider seriously how to measure, monitor and conserve diversity throughout the genomes of livestock. Currently debated ways to optimally conserve livestock diversity, particularly the ‘Weitzman Approach’, may fail to take into account the significance of within-breed genetic diversity and its structuring, and apply relatively simplistic models to predict the probability of extinction for breeds over defined periods of time under certain management scenarios. In this paper I argue, using examples from our work and that of others, that within-breed diversity, in particular, should not be ignored when conserving livestock diversity, since breeds may be genetically structured at a variety of scales and there is little evidence for a convincing relationship between effective population size and genetic diversity within rare UK breeds. Furthermore, until we understand the population genetic forces that shape diversity in breeds in more detail, using raw indices of genetic variation or distances to rank or prioritise breeds in terms of some notional threat of extinction has questionable conservation value.

Conventional animal breeding is in a healthy state, with good rates of genetic change possible, and economic efficiency being continually improved in the different livestock species. New reproductive techniques offer faster rates of change, as with the use of embryo transfer in sheep and cattle breeding. It is now possible to introduce foreign DNA, transgenes, into the germ line of farm animals and this offers new opportunities in the genetic improvement of economic merit. The transgenes should be directed at traits of high economic value, and be made in elite breeding stocks to benefit from past genetic improvements. Much still needs to be learned about engineering transgenes and about the basic biochemical-physiological processes they are designed to affect. However many transgenes will be produced over the next decade, and some may be useful in animal improvement. Founder transgene individuals are unique for incorporation site, copy number and expression, and will require screening, multiplication, testing and evaluation, in both hemizygous (TO) and homozygous (TT) form, for all economic traits. For a transgene with a large useful net effect on economic merit, the most rapid genetic response will come from fixing it in the elite breeding stock. An effect of 5-10 percent in economic merit will be needed to offset the normal genetic improvement displaced. Current experience with transgenes is of very large effects on the target trait, but with deleterious effects on fitness and economic merit. Control of the level, tissue and time of expression are crucial to the practical use of transgenes. With uncertainty in the results of a transgenic program, conventional programs will have to be maintained, so extra investment will be required. Patent rights may bring extra benefits to breeders, but there are also risks if the stock prove defective. Breeding strategies and organization may also change. Despite initial problems and uncertainties, the power of the transgenic methods is so great that the development of transgenic stocks is likely to become a very important tool in genetic improvement of livestock in the future.

This paper uses the United Kingdom (UK) government's Department for International Development (DFID) centrally funded renewable natural resources research strategy (RNRRS) programme as an example to answer the key questions of: (i) what research; (ii) why conduct research; and (iii) why set an agenda?

Donor research organizations may fund research through various channels. DFID funds research through its multilateral programmes (e.g. to the system of International Agricultural Research Centres which constitute the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research); as components of its bilateral development programmes with individual countries (e.g. assistance to the development of the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) and the Kenyan National Agricultural Research Programme) and sometimes through projects with non-governmental organizations (NGOs), as part of the Joint Funding Scheme. Research funded through these avenues is, however, part of a larger agenda to which the DFID has agreed but not necessarily set. In the interests of pursuing strategic and wider research objectives, the outputs of which may later be applied through development programmes, DFID also has a centrally controlled fund for research, which is not specific to any one country or organization. The part of that research programme relevant to natural resources is called the RNRRS (Research Task Group, 1994). Other donors have similar centrally funded research programmes and it is these to which the title refers and for which it is appropriate that the donor organization sets its own agenda.

In the United Kingdom, the majority of pigs are weaned at 3 to 4 weeks of age. Prior to weaning the main source of nutrients is milk produced by the sow. After weaning, suitable complete diets need to be given that are compatible with the physiological state of the digestive system and supply adequate nutrient inputs to achieve maximal growth with minimum digestive upset. The weaning process, however, imposes considerable stress on the piglet which frequently results in a retardation of growth, often accompanied by problems associated with diarrhoea.

The challenge to the commercial nutritionist and the pig producer is to achieve sufficiently high nutrient intakes to reach the maximum growth potential. Improved understanding of the digestive physiology of the weaned pig and better estimations of the nutrient requirements of genetically improved stock has led to the development of appropriate diet specifications. There is a perpetual need to reconsider the most suitable food ingredients to use in diet formulations to meet these nutrient specifications, due to economic circumstances. The food ingredients need to be highly digestible, extremely palatable and to contain no anti-nutritive factor or antagonist to the digestive process. The food form and method of feeding can greatly influence food intake post weaning. The piglet weaning weight to age relationship can also affect the subsequent food intake, growth rate and incidence of problems associated with diarrhoea.

There are continual changes and developments within the animal food and pig production industries that affect nutrition of the young pig. These include genetic selection for prolificacy, development of outdoor pig breeding systems, ‘green issues’ including welfare and use of food additives, use of enzymes and probiotics and improvements in food production technology. In the development of diets for young pigs all these aspects need to be considered in achieving an optimal solution in terms of nutrition, management and economics.