Answer:
Food conversion ratio (FCR) is a measure of the efficiency of an animal's use of feed to produce growth, milk, eggs, or other products. It is commonly used in the livestock industry to evaluate the performance of animals and to compare different feeding regimes or breeds. It is defined as the ratio of the amount of feed consumed to the amount of weight gained.
The formula for FCR is:
FCR = Feed consumed (kg) / Weight gain (kg)
A lower FCR indicates better feed efficiency, meaning that the animal is able to convert more of the feed it eats into weight gain or product output. Different species and breeds of animals have different FCRs, and different feeding regimes can also affect FCR.
In livestock farming, feed conversion ratio is an important parameter to be considered in order to minimize feed cost and maximize the production efficiency. The lower the FCR, the more efficient the animals are in converting the feed into product, thus less feed cost and more product will be obtained. However, in some cases, the lower the FCR may come with a trade-off of lower product quality.
It's important to note that FCR is not only used in livestock farming but also in aquaculture and fish farming, where it is used to measure the efficiency of feed conversion in fish and other aquatic animals.