The International Poultry Scientific Forum is an annual gathering with worldwide impact where multiple research reports are presented. This year, 1,523 registered participants had the opportunity to receive original information in 210 oral presentations and 169 posters. These presentations included diverse topics of poultry production, but almost half were related to nutrition. Due to the limited space of this publication, only a few papers were selected to be highlighted within four key topics: minerals, enzymes, evaluation of soybean meal quality, and feed formulation. The objective is to use these research results to comment on some advances in understanding crucial aspects of practical poultry nutrition.
Minerals
Calcium (Ca) is usually the cheapest nutrient in poultry diets. However, it significantly impacts nutrient utilization, gut health, bone mineralization, meat quality, and performance.
Calcium dietary concentration, particle size, and solubility are the main factors to observe in feed formulation and source selection.
A research project presented by Joseph Gulizia from Auburn University evaluated particle sizes (200 and 910 µm) together with three levels of Ca concentration under a necrotic enteritis challenge.
Three Ca levels (Adequate, Reduced, and Low) were created by a two-step 10-point reduction from the quoted Adequate Ca concentration for each phase (Starter: 0.95%; Grower: 0.85%; and Finisher: 0.75%).
The necrotic enteritis reduced body weight gain and increased feed conversion ratio but did not cause mortality.
The limestone particle size did not affect tibia mineralization.
The Ca level affected growth and FCR.
Better results were observed in chickens fed with adequate and reduced Ca levels than in Low.
The larger particle size (910 µm) improved the feed conversion ratio in the Ca-adequate group. However, the same parameter was increased when chickens were fed the Low-Ca diets.
The Low Ca-diets also had detrimental effects on tibia weight and strength.
Consequently, this study demonstrated that diets with adequate Ca or reduced 0.10% in each phase could support adequate performance under necrotic enteritis.
The same research group (Tabish et al.) also reported that Ca levels and particle size also affect the diversity of the intestinal microbiome in broilers after a subclinical necrotic enteritis challenge. Those gut microbial changes could partially explain some effects of high Ca levels previously reported on in...
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