Nutritional Strategies to Reduce Heat Stress in Broilers and Broiler Breeders

The poultry industry has for some time occupied a leading role among agricultural industries in many parts of the world. Poultry meat production has shown much higher growth than any other type of meat during the past decade. The potential for growth is obvious in view of the value of this kind of meat in modern day human diets. Chicken meat production has been on the increase in all continents with the highest increases in Asia and South America. The rate of increase in chicken meat has averaged 5.7% per year since 1990 (Daghir, 2008). The hot regions of the world have probably the greatest potential for further growth since the level of consumption is still very low. Asia now leads the world in poultry meat production, followed by North and Central America which had the lead until 1990. In 2005 Asia and South America contributed 50% to global poultry meat production (Daghir, 2008). The rapid expansion of the industry in these regions is very evident in countries like Brazil in South America, Morocco and Nigeria in Africa, and Saudi Arabia in the Middle East. Shane (2006) presented data indicating that there will be an increase of 12.5% in consumption of poultry meat during the present decade. According to this author, the highest increase will be in Asia, Africa and South America, the main warm regions of the world.