Explore

Communities in English

Advertise on Engormix

Poultry nutrition requirements

Nutrient Requirement of Poultry

Published: February 23, 2011
By: Poultry Cooperative Research Centre, Australia
Poultry diets must be formulated to provide all of the bird's nutrient requirements if optimum growth and production is to be achieved. There are six classes of nutrients:
  1. Carbohydrates - the major source of energy for poultry. Most of the carbohydrate in poultry diets is provided by cereal grains.
  2. Fats - provide energy and essential fatty acids that are required for some body processes.
  3. Proteins - required for the synthesis of body tissue (particularly muscle), physiological molecules (such as enzymes and hormones), feathers and for egg production. Proteins also provide a small amount of energy.
  4. Vitamins - organic chemicals (chemicals containing carbon) which help control body processes and are required in small amounts for normal health and growth.
  5. Minerals - inorganic chemicals (chemicals not containing carbon) which help control body processes and are required for normal health and growth.
  6. Water.

    Nutrient Requirement of Poultry - Image 1
                               Mixed feed pellets
Factors affecting the nutrient requirement of poultry
The nutrient requirements of poultry are affected by a large number of factors, including:  
  • Genetics (the species, breed or strain of bird) - Different species, breeds or strains of bird have different average body sizes, growth rates and production levels and will also absorb and utilise nutrients from feed with different levels of efficiency, leading to different nutrient requirements. As the genetics of commercial poultry is constantly changing, so are their nutrient requirements. Consequently, breeders of commercial poultry provide information on the specific nutrient requirements for the birds they sell.
  • Age - Nutrient requirements are related to both body weight and the stage of maturity.
  • Sex - Prior to sexual maturity the sexes have only small differences in their nutrient requirements and males and females can usually be fed the same compromise diet to achieve acceptable growth rates. Differences in nutrient requirements are larger following the onset of sexual maturity and significantly different diet formulations are then required for each sex.
  • Reproductive state - The level of egg production in hens and sexual activity in males will affect nutrient requirements.
  • Ambient temperature - Poultry have increased energy requirements to maintain normal body temperature in cold ambient temperatures and the opposite in hot ambient temperatures. The process of digestion of food produces body heat and the amount of heat produced will vary according to the nutrient composition of the diet. This is called the heat increment of the diet. In cold temperatures it may be desirable to formulate a diet with a higher heat increment and the opposite in hot temperatures.
  • Housing system - The type of housing system will influence the level of activity of the birds and therefore their energy requirements.
  • Health status - Birds experiencing a disease challenge may benefit from an increase in the intake of some nutrients, most commonly vitamins.
  • Production aims - Optimal nutrient composition of the diet will vary according to production aims, such as optimising weight gain or carcass composition, egg numbers or egg size. Poultry that are raised for breeding purposes may need to have their energy intake restricted to ensure that they do not become obese.
 This interesting article is published courtesy of and with full permission from the Poultry Cooperative Research Centre (CRC), Australia.  
Related topics:
Recommend
Comment
Share
Mingan Choct
University of New England
University of New England
11 de abril de 2011
Some of your comments are right that this is a very basic outline of the nutrient requirements for chickens. The reason is that this was published in the Australian Poultry Cooperative Research Centre's public website, www.poultryhub.org, and therefore it intended to cover a wide range of readers, including undergraduate students and village poultry producers. If you visit poultryhub.org then you should be able to find the links to the detailed breeder guides for nutrient requirements.
Recommend
Reply
Dr Sujit Kulkarni
Bextral
24 de febrero de 2011

Information given in article about Nutrient requirements of poultry is very basic. Need to more focus on specific nutrient requirements with feed formulations .
Dr.Sujit Kulkarni
Orffa Animal Nutrition
India

Recommend
Reply
Mingan Choct
University of New England
University of New England
23 de febrero de 2011

The Poultry Cooperative Research Centre (poultrycrc.com.au) has an information portal, i.e., poultryhub.org, where you can find the original article and more articles like this on poultry related topics.

Poultry CRC

Recommend
Reply
Mohammad Al-HAJJ IBRAHIM
Al-Watania Poultry
Al-Watania Poultry
1 de marzo de 2011

Interesting article about Nutrient requirements of poultry. Some recent Studies Talk about the bird psychology, that will play a major role in feed intake

Recommend
Reply
Dr. Naseem Chaudhry
27 de febrero de 2011

No doubt for balance diet the nutrient requirement plays basic and important role for getting optimum result, 

this article provided complete basic information about Nutrient requirements of poultry. it is good one. 

Naseem Anwar 

Nutritionist

Recommend
Reply
Arshaq Ramzee
26 de febrero de 2011
This short article is, perhaps, published for under grads or school boys.
Recommend
Reply
Profile picture
Author
25 de febrero de 2011

Its a good article about Nutrient requirements of poultry , please can we read it in details.

Recommend
Reply
Waseem Alshible
24 de febrero de 2011

Dear Sir,
Thank you for your article about Nutrient requirements of poultry. Regarding ambient temperature, I would like to ask you about the energy riquirements in hot weather.
Do chickens spend many calories for cooling their internal body temperature by evaporation?
How can chickens compensate the loss of energy?
Thanks,

Recommend
Reply
Profile picture
Author
24 de febrero de 2011

This is an interesting and informative article about Nutrient requirements of poultry. I wonder if it is possible to get a complete article sent to me.
I believe it could be of assistance to small scale producers who will need to know how to feed and when to feed especially in the current escalating poultry feed prices.

Slumber S. Badubi
Department of Agriculral Research
P.O. Box 151
Maun
Botswana

Recommend
Reply
Dr. Zaib Ur Rehman
24 de febrero de 2011

Very good article for Nutrient requirements of poultry. They should keep in mind all the above factors during the feed formulation so that maximum production from birds can obtained.

Recommend
Reply
Profile picture
Would you like to discuss another topic? Create a new post to engage with experts in the community.
Featured users in Poultry Industry
Lorena Ramos
Lorena Ramos
Cargill
United States
Kendra Waldbusser
Kendra Waldbusser
Pilgrim´s
United States
Phillip Smith
Phillip Smith
Tyson
Tyson
United States
Join Engormix and be part of the largest agribusiness social network in the world.