Question for the nutrionists

[LazyWP]

Was looking through the Nebraska Farmer the other night and came across an article telling of balancing a diet based on the basic elements. Carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen.
I suppose that a person could and can figure one that way, but it appears to me that there are a whole bunch of extra step involved. I am kind of a K.I.S.S. type guy.

 

[WVGenetics]

To be honest, it really isn't any different that balancing based on a nutrient profile. You just have to know the amount of each element in your ingredients. Protein is basically already done this way as protein percentages are extrapolated from the average nitrogen concentration in the particular feed source. Protein itself is around 16% nitrogen on average so we just measure nitrogen and multiply by 6.25 (100%/16%). It certainly isn't perfect...because of this calculation, urea, which is 46% nitrogen, is calculated to be 287% protein.