Today, in poultry industry cost management and specially feed efficiency are considered crucial profitability and productivity drivers for modern poultry production. The cost of feed accounts for above the 70-75 percent of production cost. Therefore, the breeder, laying hen or broiler producer can better manage today’s market variability by focusing on optimizing feed costs.
Anyway, necessarily the lowest priced formula is not the best solution and it seems that bird performance (kg. of live weight or protein produced consistently) is a key economic driver. However, other important factors which impact a successful feeding strategy, i.e., healthy food, animal and worker welfare, sustainability and the environment also are very important.
In order to overcome above challenges, the main solutions are the use of enzymes, the evaluation of non-nutritional factors (feed processing and particle size), the bioavailability of new synthetic amino acids on an industrial scale, the application of new feed formulation concepts to improve dietary energy retention, the use of nutraceuticals to modulate intestinal microbiota and improve immune system as an alternative to therapeutics and using new generation of feed additives such as chelated trace minerals, omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids.