Nutrilac: Application for Dairy Cattle Diet Formulation
摘要
Animal nutrition accounts for a significant portion of farm expenditures, and often, disregarded by producers, resulting in increased costs due to imbalanced diets. Furthermore, the tools available in the market are costly and complex, making them challenging for producers to use. Therefore, the present work introduces “Nutrilac,” a mobile application for small and medium-sized rural producers. We designed this application to facilitate the formulation of dairy cattle diets in a straightforward and user-friendly manner while also seeking for a cost-effective diet composed of aliments selected by the user. Initially, the tool calculates the animals’ nutritional requirements following the Nutrient Requirements of Dairy Cattle guidelines. Subsequently, a linear programming model is employed to determine the minimum cost diet that satisfies these requirements. An intuitive interface guides the user throughout the diet formulation process. Moreover, the systems enables users to generate and export reports summarizing the formulated diets. We analyzed diet examples under different conditions, and the results indicate that the application effectively formulates diets according to specifications.