livestock-nutrition-2016_scientifictracks-workshop

4 / 15

Volume 4, Issue 2 J Fisheries Livest Prod
ISSN: 2332-2608 JFLP, an open access journal
Page 27
Notes:
Livestock Nutrition 2016
July 21-22, 2016
conferenceseries.com
July 21-22, 2016 Brisbane, Australia
2nd International Conference on
Livestock Nutrition
Changing how they eat influencing digestive physiology and metabolism by diet in livestock
Mark Barnett
School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, Charles Sturt University, Australia
How is that two identical animals can eat the same diet yet have different production outcomes? Much of the answer lies in
the animal’s digestive physiology – its ability and mechanisms to digest, absorb and metabolise the diet consumed. Digestion,
absorption and the motility of the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) are all controlled by intrinsic and extrinsic mechanisms designed
to obtain the maximum nutritional benefit from the diet consumed. Some of these neurocrine and endocrine mechanisms are
regulated from secondary tissues like the liver, pancrease and hypothalamus. Many more though are locally controlled through
autocrine and paracrine secretions, focusing directly on the functioning of the GIT. It has long been known that dietary regulation
and supplementation is capable of manipulating the regulation of the digestive physiology in livestock. The addition and extraction of
key components of an animal’s diet can have a profound effect on its ability to digest and absorb nutrients, impacting greatly on the
animal’s production performance. The purpose of this review is to investigate the neurocrine and endocrine regulators of digestive
physiology and how they can be influenced by dietary manipulation to provide a greater production outcome.
Biography
Mark completed his PhD at the University of New England in ruminant physiology and nutrition investigating the impact of digestive physiology on methane
production and nutrient utilisation in sheep. He then undertook a senior research fellowship assessing the effectiveness of a novel biological compound, designed
to regulate key gut kinetic regulators, in mitigating methane production and improving nutrient uptake from ruminants. Mark has since developed a new technique
for determining faecal concentrations of non-absorbable digesta kinetic and digestibility markers in sheep and cattle. Currently he is the Lecturer of Animal Nutrition
at Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga.
Mark Barnett, J Fisheries Livest Prod 2016, 4:2 (Suppl)