Anti-nutritive factors in animal feedstuffs and their effects on livestock.

This review deals with compounds -mainly organic-which when present in the diet, may affect the health of livestock or interfere with normal feed utilization. The anti-nutrients occur as natural constituents of plants and animal feeds, as artificial factors added during processing, or as contaminants of the ecosystem. Their mode of action, metabolism in the living body, and detoxification mechanisms, are described briefly. It is stressed that ruminants and monogastric species frequently differ in susceptibility to the same toxicant, mainly due to the action of rumen microorganisms. The toxicants described are classified as follows: proteins depressing digestion (protease inhibitors and lectins); glucosides; phenolic substances; other toxicants occurring in plants; substances interfering with the utilization of vitamins; mycotoxins; pesticides and industrial chemicals.