Animal Nutrition for the Health of Animals, Human and Environment

1 Univ. of Ljubljana, Biotechnical Fac., Dept. of Animal Science, Groblje 3, SI-1230 Domžale, Slovenia, e-mail: [email protected] 2 Same address as 1 3 Same address as 1, e-mail: [email protected] ABSTRACT Animal nutrition has pronounced direct impact not only on animal health but also indirectly through animal products on human health and through excreta on the environment. Due to increased awareness and concerns about animal health, due to increased incidence and severity of chronic non-communicable diseases in developed world that are linked to nutritional quality of (animal) food and due to increased concern about climate changes animal nutrition has gained new dimensions and additional importance. The knowledge of various factors involved became crucial for animal production in general and already gave, at least in some aspects, new importance and impulse to animal nutrition also in practice. In the review some most important effects and recent possibilities of animal nutrition to improve animal health, to improve nutritional value of animal products in regard of human health and to reduce environmental impact of animal production are discussed.