Explore all the information onEnergy in poultry diets
While protein, vitamins and minerals are referred to as nutrients, energy -the 4th and most costly part of the diet- is not a nutrient but the property of energy yielding nutrients. Dietary nutrients that yield energy are protein, fat and carbohydrates. Dietary energy level is the main factor influencing feed intake, as birds will, under normal circumstances, eat to satisfy their energy needs. Therefore the dietary nutrients, protein vitamins and minerals should vary in relation to the dietary energy content of the diet, if they are not to become deficient, with low feed intakes, or overconsumed, with low energy diets. While there are a number of factors, such as level of protein, balance of essential amino acids and perhaps level of some of the other dietary nutrients, that can influence the cost of a diet, the level of dietary energy is usually the main factor influencing diet cost.
Introduction
The production of chickens using alternative systems has shown an important growth in recent years due to the interest of a consumer segment for meat with different traits from those of conventionally-farmed broilers (Dourado et al ., 2008). Hick-type birds have a darker, firmer, tastier meat, with less carcass fat (Takahashi et al ., 2006).
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Introduction
The progress and competitiveness of Brazilian poultry industry have resulted in constant genetic improvement of poultry strains. Research is being conducted in order to find genotypes with superior traits, selecting not only the best performing birds, but also those with increased carcass/edible part yields (Stringhini et al ., 2003).
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Introduction
The demand of animal-origin protein human consumption keeps growing. This encourages research in poultry, in the search of alternatives aiming to reduce production costs. Feeding represents nearly 70% of the total production cost, and it has shown to be an important factor whenever attempts are made to reduce such cost. Poultry nutrition research is being conducted aiming to improve...
Introduction The benefits of feed processing are well recognized by the poultry industry. Pelleting is often used by feed mills due to enhanced feed usage and improved animal performance. In addition, pelleting results in increased nutrient digestibility due to the mechanical action of heat (López & Baião, 2004). Feed physical traits can be easily evaluated....
Introduction An accurate estimation of the energy value of NSP enzymes and a flexible way to incorporate this in least cost optimalisation was a subject in many broiler studies. The NSP level and NSP characteristics determine the antinutritional effect of a broiler diet and therefore these parameters are important to estimate the energy value of NSP-enzymes. Arabinoxylan (AX), quantitatively the most important NSP structure, is abundantly present in...
Everyone is familiar with the word "protein", because it turns up so frequently in everything from food to shampoo. Whether we are dealing with commercial or backyard flocks, all poultry need protein in the feed. Because of its tremendous importance, it is worthwhile to gain a basic understanding of this important nutrient.
The range of different substances that are composed of proteins is so varied it is difficult to remember we are talking about the same basic thing. To illustrate,...