Future trends and developments in poultry nutrition

This paper gives recognition to the recent rapid technological, scientific and industrial changes that have taken place in the poultry sector, and uses these as a baseline for the prediction of future trends in nutrition. It is predicted that elevated levels of poultry feed will be required, in the fast-developing poultry sectors of Asia in particular, to meet the burgeoning consumer demand for poultry products. This significant migration of feed demand from west to east will be associated with increased outputs of formulated compound feeds. Globally, relatively few protein and energy ingredients are used in the manufacture of poultry feed for landless and large-scale commercial operations, with a significant reliance on soybean and traditional cereal grains to achieve nutrient supply and balance. The feed versus fuel debate over cereal usage is set to continue, accompanied by uncertainty as to the likely impact on feed and livestock production levels, and on feed-industry dynamics. Further refinements of technologies used for the production of ethanol by-products with desirable nutritional characteristics – for example, dried distillers' grains with solubles (DDGS) – will be necessary in the future, parallel to the economic evaluation and justification of such products with respect to competitor feed ingredients. Additional legislation will affect most aspects of the feed sector, including those pertaining to environmental protection, feed hygiene, and those linked to food-safety issues throughout the poultry supply chain. Parallel to the continued inclusion and utilization of traditional feed ingredients in the poultry industries of both developed and developing countries, will be the ongoing requirement for nutritional evaluation of more locally grown and novel indigenous crop sources, which may have the potential to offer reasonable (alternative) protein and energy yields. The future use of a greater diversity of protein feeds in formulations, despite the fact that they may contain less than optimal natural amino acid profiles, will be assisted by the increasing availability of relatively cheaply manufactured synthetic forms of essential amino acids, which will facilitate the dietary creation of " ideal " protein. There will be continued selection for genetically improved and more location/ climate-tolerant plant cultivars that have potential nutritional value and widen the feed options for more countries. Greater accuracy in dietary macronutrient and micronutrient provision not only results in enhanced bird performance characteristics, but also reduces the likelihood of nutrient waste posing a pollution threat to the environment, which will be an increasingly important issue in the …