TNPSC Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Science (Degree Standard), Code 396 · India · Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission
Original practice questions written to the published syllabus · not past papersWhat feed is made of and how its value is measured: proximate analysis, energy partition, protein quality, minerals, vitamins, anti-nutritional factors and feed processing.
In the exams: ICAR AICE-JRF core group 05; ICAR AIEEA-PG 14 (Animal Nutrition); TNPSC Nutrition 20; RPSC (feeds of Rajasthan); EGEL Plus nutrition 13; ASRB NET (numerical problems, per coaching sources)
How our questions for TNPSC Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Science, Code 396 spread across the units of Principles of Animal Nutrition & Feed Technology. Difficulty: 27 easy, 13 medium, 1 hard.
| Minerals | 6 | |
| Proximate principles and Weende analysis | 5 | |
| Anti-nutritional factors | 5 | |
| Vitamins | 4 | |
| Principles of feed formulation | 4 | |
| Energy partition: GE, DE, ME and NE | 3 | |
| Measures of protein quality: BV, NPU, CP and DCP | 3 | |
| Rumen-degradable and undegradable protein | 3 | |
| Classification of feeds | 2 | |
| Feed processing: grinding, chaffing, pelleting and feed blocks | 2 | |
| Water | 1 | |
| Feed additives | 1 | |
| Unconventional feeds | 1 | |
| The feed industry | 1 |
Choose an answer, then open the working. Each explanation says why the right answer is right and why the others are not.
Ether extract of a feed sample is determined using:
D. A Soxhlet apparatus
Ether extract is extracted with petroleum or diethyl ether in a Soxhlet apparatus. Kjeldahl apparatus is for nitrogen, the bomb calorimeter for gross energy and the muffle furnace for ash.
Further reading: McDonald et al., Animal Nutrition, 7th ed.
A concentrate analyses (as fed): moisture 10%, CP 12%, EE 3%, CF 8%, total ash 7%. Its nitrogen-free extract on an as-fed basis is:
B. 60%
NFE = 100 - (10 + 12 + 3 + 8 + 7) = 60%. Leaving out moisture gives 70%, a common slip; 66.7% is the value on DM basis, not as fed; forgetting to subtract CF gives 68%, the total carbohydrate.
Further reading: McDonald et al., Animal Nutrition, 7th ed.
A green fodder contains 20% dry matter and 9% crude protein on a DM basis. Its crude protein on an as-fed (fresh) basis is:
C. 1.8%
As-fed = DM-basis value x DM fraction = 9 x 0.20 = 1.8%. Dividing by the DM fraction (45.0%) converts the wrong way; 7.2% multiplies by the moisture fraction (0.80) instead of the DM fraction.
Further reading: McDonald et al., Animal Nutrition, 7th ed.
A bullock eats 10.0 kg DM a day and voids 3.8 kg faecal DM. The apparent DM digestibility coefficient is:
A. 62.0%
DC = (10.0 - 3.8) / 10.0 x 100 = 62.0%. 38.0% is the indigestible fraction; dividing by faecal output (163.2%) uses the wrong denominator; 263.2% is intake divided by faecal output (10.0/3.8).
Further reading: McDonald et al., Animal Nutrition, 7th ed.
Biological value of a protein is defined as:
C. Nitrogen retained as a percentage of nitrogen absorbed
BV = N retained / N absorbed x 100. Retained over intake is NPU; absorbed over intake is digestibility; weight gain per gram protein is PER.
Further reading: McDonald et al., Animal Nutrition, 7th ed.
Three-week-old piglets reared indoors on concrete are pale, breathe heavily after exertion and grow poorly. The most likely cause is deficiency of:
D. Iron
Piglets are born with low iron reserves and sow's milk is low in iron, so housed piglets develop iron deficiency anaemia unless injected with iron early in life. Copper deficiency is not the classic piglet anaemia.
Further reading: Suttle, Mineral Nutrition of Livestock, 4th ed.
Chronic selenium poisoning in livestock grazing seleniferous areas (alkali disease) is characterised by:
D. Hoof deformities and loss of long hair
Chronic selenosis causes hoof lesions and loss of tail and mane hair; acute poisoning is described as blind staggers.
Further reading: Suttle, Mineral Nutrition of Livestock, 4th ed.
Curled-toe paralysis in chicks is due to deficiency of:
B. Riboflavin
Riboflavin (vitamin B2) deficiency causes curled-toe paralysis. Thiamin deficiency in chicks causes polyneuritis with star-gazing.
Further reading: McDonald et al., Animal Nutrition, 7th ed.
Cattle turned onto a young, drought-stressed sorghum crop die within minutes to an hour, with bright cherry-red blood. The toxic principle is:
C. Hydrocyanic acid from the cyanogenic glycoside dhurrin
Cyanide blocks cellular oxygen use, so venous blood stays bright red. Nitrate poisoning gives chocolate-brown blood, the key difference.
Further reading: McDonald et al., Animal Nutrition, 7th ed.
Urea-molasses mineral blocks (UMMB) are given to ruminants on straw-based diets because they:
C. Supply non-protein nitrogen, energy and minerals slowly through licking
Licking limits intake rate, making urea safer, while molasses supplies fermentable energy. Urea must not be fed to monogastric animals.
Further reading: McDonald et al., Animal Nutrition, 7th ed.
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