Question

what steps should be taken to improve the production of food from animal resources in our country

Answer 1

Various steps which should be taken to improve the production of food from animal sources are as follows:

Cattle feeding
The cattle should be provided with healthy and nutritious food. Their food requirements can be classified into two types based on:

General/maintenance requirement: It provides nutrition to support a healthy life.
Milk producing requirement: It provides nutrition for lactation.
Cattle should be provided with a well balanced diet which contains:

Roughage which largely consists of fibre
Concentrates, which have high levels of protein and other nutrients but also contains low-fibre
Additives which promote their health and milk production
Poultry birds are bred for eggs and meat

Broilers are reared for meat. They are fed with protein and vitamin-rich supplements (mainly vitamin A and vitamin K), with adequate amounts of fat. This helps in maintaining their feather and carcass quality. It also reduces mortality rate. Nutritional requirements are different for egg and meat production. Food supplemented with respective nutritional needs is provided. Housing of the two types also varies.

For good production of poultry, proper management techniques should be followed. Regular cleaning of the farm is of utmost importance. Maintenance of temperature is also required.

Fish feeding
An intensive way of farming fishes is the composite fish culture system. In such a system, five or six different species of fishes are grown together in a single fishpond. Fishes with different food habitats are chosen, so that they do not compete for food among themselves. For example, catla feed on the surface of water, rohu are middle zone feeders, mrigal and common carp are bottom feeders, and grass carp feed on weeds. This ensures complete utilization of food resources in the pond. Such a system increases the fish yield.