It was with some trepidation that, some 7 years ago, I accepted an invitation from CAB International to revise the late Eric Underwood’s 1980 text for The Mineral Nutrition of Livestock. As a ‘raw’ post doctorate I had reviewed the third (1971) edition of his other major publication Trace Elements in Human and Animal Nutrition for CAB International and remember likening him to Goldsmiths ‘Village Teacher’ – ‘that one small head could carry all he knew’! I also had the privilege of hearing him sum up the proceedings of the first two international symposia on Trace Element Metabolism in Animals (TEMA 1 and 2) in Aberdeen (1968) and Wisconsin (1971): his ability to quickly distil the packed and complex proceedings of such gatherings and present the highlights with a touch of humour were truly remarkable. However, trace elements were only half of his repertoire and this book gathered together the essentials of macro- as well as trace element nutrition while focusing entirely on the practical needs of animals. My task has been simplified by the excellent foundation that Eric laid, the advances in information technology which now expedite any literature search and – sadly – a dramatic reduction
in funding for applied research relating to animal nutrition in most developed countries, which took place towards the end of the last decade. Thus, the series of TEMA symposia, now approaching their 10th anniversary, were soon renamed Trace Elements in Man and Animals and the ‘Animal’ contribution has shrunk out of all recognition: this despite the fact that natural mineral imbalances frequently afflict animals and animal products are still important sources of minerals for man. The aim of the book must therefore, remain unchanged from that of the second edition ‘meeting the needs of undergraduate and graduate students of nutrition in colleges of agricultural science, animal husbandry and veterinary science, of teachers and research workers in animal nutrition, of agricultural and veterinary extension officers in developed as well as developing regions of the world and of progressive livestock producers, wherever situated, who wish to apply modern scientific
knowledge of mineral nutrition to their own enterprises’.