ICAR AIEEA (PG): Master's entrance, Veterinary Science and Animal Sciences · India · NTA for ICAR
Original practice questions written to the published syllabus · not past papersFeeding pigs, poultry, rabbits, laboratory animals, fish and pets: amino-acid balancing, feed additives and their withdrawal, and mycotoxins in feed.
In the exams: ICAR AICE-JRF core group 05; ICAR AIEEA-PG 14 (Animal Nutrition)
ICAR AIEEA (PG), Code 14 Animal Sciences (Animal Nutrition)
Non-ruminant digestion, DE/ME/NE and AMEn, limiting amino acids in maize-soy diets, ideal protein ratios to lysine, phytase and NSP enzymes, probiotics and prebiotics, mycotoxin identities and target species, classic chick deficiency syndromes, Pearson square problems.
How our questions for ICAR AIEEA spread across the units of Applied Animal Nutrition II: Non-ruminants, Poultry, Laboratory and Companion Animals. Difficulty: 13 easy, 27 medium, 2 hard.
| Enzymes and probiotics as feed additives | 7 | |
| Amino-acid balancing | 6 | |
| Poultry feeding standards | 5 | |
| Fish nutrition | 5 | |
| Pig feeding standards | 4 | |
| Laboratory animal diets | 4 | |
| Rabbit nutrition | 3 | |
| Non-ruminant digestive nutrition | 2 | |
| Antibiotic growth promoters and their withdrawal | 2 | |
| Pet food and companion-animal nutrition | 2 | |
| Mycotoxins in feed | 2 |
Choose an answer, then open the working. Each explanation says why the right answer is right and why the others are not.
As a growing pig moves from 25 kg to slaughter weight, how does its recommended dietary SID lysine concentration change?
B. It falls steadily, because intake rises and lean makes up less of each kilogram gained
Feed intake increases faster than lean deposition, and an increasing share of gain is fat, so the lysine needed per kg of feed falls throughout growth. That is the basis for phase feeding.
Further reading: NRC, Nutrient Requirements of Swine, 11th rev. ed. (2012)
Which deficiency is the classic cause of mulberry heart disease in rapidly growing pigs?
D. Vitamin E and selenium
Mulberry heart disease and hepatosis dietetica are the vitamin E/selenium-responsive diseases of pigs, made more likely by diets rich in polyunsaturated fat or grown on selenium-poor soils. The B-vitamin pair is linked with nervous and skin problems, not this lesion.
Further reading: Constable et al., Veterinary Medicine, 11th ed.
Perosis (slipped tendon) in growing chicks is classically caused by deficiency of manganese. Deficiency of which other nutrient can also cause it?
B. Choline
Perosis is caused by manganese deficiency and also by deficiency of choline, biotin, niacin or folic acid. Chickens synthesise vitamin C, so it is not a dietary cause.
Further reading: NRC, Nutrient Requirements of Poultry, 9th rev. ed. (1994); Leeson & Summers, Scott's Nutrition of the Chicken
Why is lysine used as the reference amino acid (= 100) in the ideal protein concept?
D. It is used mainly for protein deposition and its requirement is the best documented
Lysine is used almost entirely for body protein, is easy to analyse and to supplement, and has more requirement data than any other amino acid. Cereals are actually poor in lysine, and sulphur amino acids, not lysine, are the feather-related ones.
Further reading: NRC, Nutrient Requirements of Swine, 11th rev. ed. (2012)
Why is amino-acid digestibility measured at the end of the ileum rather than in the faeces?
D. Hindgut microbes alter amino acids, and those disappearing there are not absorbed as such
Microbes in the large intestine both break down and synthesise amino acids; amino acids that disappear there are mostly fermented to ammonia and amines, not absorbed for protein synthesis. Ileal digesta do contain endogenous protein, which is exactly why AID and SID differ.
Further reading: NRC, Nutrient Requirements of Swine, 11th rev. ed. (2012)
One phytase unit (FTU) is defined as the amount of enzyme that:
A. Releases 1 µmol of inorganic phosphate per minute from sodium phytate at pH 5.5 and 37 °C
The FTU is a standard in-vitro unit: 1 micromole of inorganic phosphate released per minute from sodium phytate at pH 5.5 and 37 °C. Matrix values in the diet are separate, product-specific estimates.
Further reading: McDonald et al., Animal Nutrition, 7th ed.
Competitive exclusion products given to day-old chicks are intended mainly to:
C. Establish an adult-type caecal flora that limits Salmonella colonisation
Competitive exclusion uses flora from healthy adult birds to colonise the chick gut quickly, occupying niches and reducing Salmonella colonisation. It does not replace maternal antibodies or bind toxins.
Further reading: McDonald et al., Animal Nutrition, 7th ed.
Organic acids such as formic and propionic acid are added to weaner pig diets mainly because they:
A. Lower feed and stomach pH and act against Gram-negative bacteria
The young pig's gastric acid secretion is limited. Organic acids lower pH in feed and stomach, aid protein digestion, inhibit coliforms and preserve feed. They are not fatty acid sources in the nutritional sense.
Further reading: McDonald et al., Animal Nutrition, 7th ed.
Feeding a low-fibre, high-starch diet to recently weaned rabbits predisposes to:
C. Enteritis and enterotoxaemia associated with Clostridium spiroforme
Starch reaching the caecum disturbs fermentation and favours clostridial overgrowth, causing enterotoxaemia and the mucoid enteropathy complex. Fibre protects the caecal ecosystem.
Further reading: De Blas & Wiseman, Nutrition of the Rabbit, 2nd ed.
Why must phosphorus be supplied in fish diets even though fish can absorb some minerals from water?
C. Phosphorus concentration in water is very low, unlike calcium
Fish absorb calcium from water but water contains little phosphorus, so it must come from feed. Excess dietary phosphorus discharged from farms contributes to eutrophication.
Further reading: NRC, Nutrient Requirements of Fish and Shrimp (2011)
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