Animal Diet

Specifications of the NIH-31M Diet

The natural-ingredient NIH #31M Rodent Diet is used as the standard diet in rodent production colonies at all US Taconic production sites. This diet formulation is a modification of the widely used NIH #31 Rodent Diet with the energy concentration increased by slightly increasing the percentage of soybean oil in the formulation. This is an open formula diet and the quantitative ingredient composition is presented in the table below.

Vendors providing the NIH #31M Rodent Diet to Taconic are required to provide a record of the amount of each ingredient used to manufacture every batch of feed shipped to Taconic. Vendors also provide the results of a proximate analyses conducted on a representative feed sample collected from the shipment. This information is used to document the quality of feed provided by the manufacturer. In addition, representative feed samples are periodically collected at Taconic and sent to an independent laboratory to be assayed for various vitamins, minerals, heavy metals, and chemical contaminants.

IngredientPercentage by Weight
Ground whole wheat35.17
Ground whole yellow corn20.00
Ground whole oats10.00
Wheat middlings10.00
Fish meal (60% protein)9.00
Soybean meal (47.5% protein)5.00
Soy bean oil (no additives)2.50
Alfalfa meal (17% protein)2.00
Corn gluten meal (60% protein)2.00
Dicalcium phosphate1.50
Brewer’s dried yeast1.00
Ground limestone0.50
Salt0.50
NIH #31 vitamin premix0.25
NIH #31 mineral premix0.25
Choline chloride0.13
L-lysine0.10
DL-methionine0.10

VitaminAmountSource
Vitamin A24,300,000 IUStabilized Vitamin A Palmitate or Acetate
Vitamin D4,200,000 IUD-Activated animal sterol
Vitamin K22.0 gMenadione activity
Vitmain E16.5 gdl alpha Tocopherol Acetate
Biotin132.0 mgd-Biotin
Folic acid1.1 g 
Niacin22.0 g 
Pantothenic acid27.5 gd-Calcium pantothenate
Pyridoxine2.2 gPyridoxine hydrochloride
Riboflavin supplement5.5 g 
Thiamine71.5 gThiamine mononitrate
Vitamin B12 supplement15,400.0 μg 

MineralAmountSource
Cobalt440.0 mgCarbonate
Copper4.4 gCopper Sulfate
Iron66.0 gIron sulfate
Magnesium440.0 gMagnesium oxide
Manganese110.0 gManganese oxide
Zinc11.0 gZinc oxide
Iodine1.7 gCalcium iodate

NutrientMinimumMaximum
Crude protein18.00%19.54%
Crude fat4.98%6.08%
Crude fiber3.28%5.00%
Ash5.17%8.00%
Moisture8.00%13.00%

Amino acids% of Total Diet
Arginine1.01
Lysine0.99
Methionine0.46
Cystine0.27
Tryptophan0.20
Histidine0.41
Leucine1.47
Isoleucine0.79
Phenylalanine0.82
Tyrosine0.63
Threonine0.67
Valine0.90

 

MineralsAmount
Calcium1.11%
Phosphorous0.93%
Potassium0.57%
Sodium0.28%
Magnesium0.22%
Iron206 mg/kg
Zinc58 mg/kg
Manganese152 mg/kg
Copper17 mg/kg
Cobalt0.7 mg/kg
Iodine1.97 mg/kg

 

VitaminsAmount
Vitamin A25.90 IU/g
Vitamin D34.1 IU/g
Thiamine76.90 mg/kg
Riboflavin7.6 mg/kg
Niacin82.80 mg/kg
Pantothenic acid38.10 mg/kg
Choline1880 mg/kg
Pyridoxine10.60 mg/kg
Folic acid1.56 mg/kg
Biotin0.29 mg/kg
Vitamin B 1256 mcg/kg
Vitamin K22 mg/kg
Vitamin E46.80 mg/kg

Calories provided by:Amount
Protein20.940%
Fat (ether extract)13.736%
Carbohydrates65.324%

Get the right diet for your mice

Taconic offers custom diet conditioning for any commercial or customer-provided strain as part of its Colony Management Solutions portfolio. 

 

Scientist Working

Welcome! Tell us a little about yourself