The National Animal Nutrition Program, National Research Support Project 9, supports efforts in livestock nutrition, including the National Research Council’s committees on the Nutrient Requirements of Animals. Our objective was to review the current status of experimentation and data reporting in animal nutrition literature and to provide suggestions for the advancement of animal nutrition research and the ongoing improvement of field-applied nutrient requirement models. Improved data reporting consistency and completeness represent a substantial opportunity to improve nutrition-related mathematical models. A body of nutrition research was reviewed and common phrases used to describe diets, animals, housing and environmental conditions were recorded and equivalent numerical data that could be reported were proposed. With the increasing availability of online supplementary material sections available in journals, a comprehensive checklist of data that should be included in publications was developed. To continue to improve our research effectiveness, studies utilizing multiple research methodologies to address complex systems and measure multiple variables will be necessary. From the current body of animal nutrition literature, a series of opportunities to integrate research focuses (nutrition, reproduction and genetics) to advance the development of nutrient requirement models were identified. Examples of possibilities to integrate research methodologies include analysis of the energy cost of ionic gradients in cells and protein turnover in tissues. From our survey of experimentation and data reporting in animal nutrition, 4 key opportunities to advance animal nutrition knowledge were identified: 1) coordinated experiments must be designed to employ multiple research methodologies; 2) publication guidelines and restrictions should be updated to allow more complete data sets to be made available; 3) systems-oriented research approaches should be encouraged and supported; and 4) such new data should be more rapidly be integrated into our knowledge bases, research programs and practical applications