Animals are biological transformers of dietary matter and energy to produce high-quality foods and wools for human consumption and use. Mammals, birds, fish, and shrimp require nutrients to survive, grow, develop, and reproduce. As an interesting, dynamic, and challenging discipline in biological sciences, animal nutrition spans an immense range from chemistry, biochemistry, anatomy and physiology to reproduction, immunology, pathology, and cell biology. Thus, nutrition is a foundational subject in livestock, poultry and fish production, as well as the rearing and health of companion animals.
This book entitled Principles of Animal Nutrition consists of 13 chapters. Recent advances in biochemistry, physiology and anatomy provide the foundation to understand how nutrients are utilized by ruminants and non-ruminants. The text begins with an overview of the physiological and biochemical bases of animal nutrition, followed by a detailed description of chemical properties of carbohydrates, lipids, protein, and amino acids. It advances to the coverage of the digestion, absorption, transport, and metabolism of macronutrients, energy, vitamins, and minerals in animals. To integrate the basic knowledge of nutrition with practical animal feeding, the book continues with discussion on nutritional requirements of animals for maintenance and production, as well as the regulation of food intake by animals. Finally, the book closes with feed additives, including those used to enhance animal growth and survival, improve feed efficiency for protein production, and replace feed antibiotics.
While the classical and modern concepts of animal nutrition are emphasized throughout the book, every effort has been made to include the most recent progress in this ever-expanding field, so that readers in various biological disciplines can integrate biochemistry and physiology with nutrition, health, and disease in mammals, birds, and other animal species (e.g., fish and shrimp). All chapters clearly provide the essential literature related to the principles of animal nutrition, which should be useful for academic researchers, practitioners, beginners, and government policy makers. This book is an excellent reference for professionals and a comprehensive textbook for senior undergraduate and graduate students in animal science, biochemistry, biomedicine, biology, food science, nutrition, veterinary medicine, and related fields.
About the Author: Dr. Guoyao Wu is a University Distinguished Professor, University Faculty Fellow, and Texas A&M AgriLife Research Senior Faculty Fellow at Texas A&M University. He received BS in Animal Science from South China Agricultural University in Guangzhou, China (1978-1982), MS in Animal Nutrition from China Agricultural University in Beijing, China (1982-1984), and MSc (1984-1986) and PhD (1986-1989) in Animal Biochemistry from the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada. Dr. Wu completed his postdoctoral training in diabetes, nutrition, and biochemistry at McGill University Faculty of Medicine in Montreal, Canada (1989-1991) and Memorial University of Newfoundland Faculty of Medicine in St. John's, Canada (1991). He joined the Texas A&M University faculty in October 1991. Dr. Wu's sabbatical leave was to study human obesity at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, USA (2005). Dr. Wu has taught graduate (experimental nutrition, general animal nutrition, protein metabolism, and nutritional biochemistry) and undergraduate (problems in animal science, nutrition, and biochemistry) courses at Texas A&M University over the past 25 years. He has given numerous lectures at other institutions in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Europe, and Asia. His research focuses on the biochemistry, nutrition, and physiology of amino acids and related nutrients in animals at genetic, molecular, cellular, and whole-body levels. Research interests include: (1) functions of AAs in gene expression (including epigenetics) and cell signaling; (2) mechanisms that regulate intracellular synthesis and catabolism of proteins and AAs; (3) hormonal and nutritional regulation of homeostasis of metabolic fuels; (4) biology and pathobiology of nitric oxide and polyamines; (5) key roles of AAs in preventing metabolic diseases (including diabetes, obesity, and intrauterine growth restriction) and associated cardiovascular complications; (6) essential roles of AAs in survival, growth, and development of embryos, fetuses, and neonates; (7) dietary requirements of AAs and proteins in the life cycle; and (8) animal models (e.g., pigs, rats, and sheep) for studying human metabolic diseases.
Dr. Wu has published 540 papers in peer-reviewed journals, including Advance in Nutrition, Amino Acids, American Journal of Physiology, Annals of New York Academy of Sciences, Annual Review of Animal Biosciences, Annual Review of Nutrition, Biochemical Journal, Biology of Reproduction, British Journal of Nutrition, Cancer Research, Clinical and Experimental Immunology, Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology, Diabetes, Diabetologia, Endocrinology, Experimental Biology and Medicine, FASEB Journal, Food & Function, Frontiers in Bioscience, Frontiers in Immunology, Gut, Journal of Animal Science, Journal of Animal Science and Biotechnology, Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, Journal of Biological Chemistry, Journal of Chromatography, Journal of Nutrition, Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry, Journal of Pediatrics, Journal of Physiology (London), Livestock Science, Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology, Molecular Reproduction and Development, Proceedings of National Academy of Science USA, and Reproduction, and 58 book chapters. Dr. Wu's work has been extensively cited in Google Scholar over 38,000 times, with an H-index of 100. Three of his papers have each been cited more than 2,200 times. He was a Most Cited Author and a Most Influential Scientific Mind (2014-2016) in the Web of Science, and was among the 10 most cited scientists in the field of agricultural sciences (2016) worldwide.
Dr. Wu has received numerous prestigious awards from China, Canada, and the United States, which include the China National Scholarship for Graduate Studies Abroad (1984), The University of Alberta Andrew Stewart Graduate Prize (1989), Medical Research Council of Canada Postdoctoral Fellowship (1989), American Heart Association Established Investigator Award (1998), Texas A&M AgriLife Faculty Fellow (2001), Texas A&M University Faculty Fellow (2002), Nonruminant Nutrition Research Award from the American Society of Animal Science (2004), Outstanding Young Investigator Award from the National Science Foundation of China (2005), Texas A&M Agriculture Program Vice Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Team (2006) and Individual (2008) Research, and in Diversity (2011), Changjiang Scholar Award from China (2008), Texas A&M University Distinguished Research Achievement Award (2008), Texas A&M Agrilife Research Senior Faculty Fellow Award (2008), Chutian Scholar Award from Hubei Province of China (2008), FASS-AFIA New Frontiers in Animal Nutrition Research Award from the Federation of Animal Science Societies and American Feed Industry Association (2009), Dingying Scholar Award from South China Agricultural University (2009), the Thousand-People-Talent Award from China (2010), the Samburu Collaboration Award from the International Association of Giraffe Care Professionals (2010), Distinguished Scientist of Sigma Xi Honor Society--Texas A&M University Chapter (2013), and the Hundred Talent Award from the Hubei Province of China (2014).
Dr. Wu is a member and elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, as well as a member of the American Heart Association, American Society of Animal Science, American Society of Nutrition, and Society for the Study of Reproduction. He has served on Editorial Advisory Boards for Biochemical Journal (1993-2005), Journal of Animal Science and Biotechnology (2010-Present), Journal of Nutrition (1997-2003), and Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry (2006-present), as well as being an editor of Amino Acids (2008-present), an editor of Journal of Amino Acids (2009-Present), editor-in-chief of SpringerPlus--Amino Acids Collections (2012-2016), and as the managing editor (2009-2016) and editor (2017-present) of Frontiers in Bioscience.
