Feed Microbiology: A Forsaken Piece in Animal Nutrition Puzzle

The importance of microbial quality of the feed is not being considered in animal feeding till they affect the life or performance of the host. The animal feedstuffs-roughages and grains were exposed to various environmental conditions before they eventually reach the oral cavity of the animals. The microbes bacteria, virus and fungi along with harmful protein all affects the animal welfare and performance. These microbes not only affects the animals but also the humans with respect to Salmonella, scrapie, listeriosis. The contamination with fungus leads to not only change in colour, flavour and palatability, it also causes hepatic and kidney damages due to the production of mycotoxins. These toxins also possess tumour causing properties. The presence of microbial population in silage is very much important for the preparation of good quality silages. However, this area of animal nutrition is rarely under studied except the mycotoxins. The importance of microbiological quality is gaining importance over the past two decades since the report of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in Europe.