Publisher's Synopsis
In recent decades, animal production in a number of industrialized countries has been successfully developed into virtually industrial production systems. Output rates per animal have been increased enormously. The technological and economic success of this transformation, however, is becoming increasingly overshadowed by undesirable consequences for the environment and for the animals themselves.;In tropical countries also, animal production forms a substantial part of the agricultural economy. Nutrient and other inputs are, however, often insufficiently available, thus leading to suboptimal condition of the animals and contributing to land degradation and depletion of other natural resources.;The animal sciences have contributed technologically to these, now seemingly unsustainalbe production systems. This text aims at rediscovering the biological basis for animal production as a first step towards new sustainable animal production systems.
