**1. Introduction**

Globally, poultry (avian species such as chickens, turkeys, ducks and guinea fowls) production is an important aspect of the animal agriculture. It is undeniable fact that the intensification and commercialization of the poultry sector is accelerated by research discoveries in the field of breeding, nutrition, housing management and disease control. That is to say, the success of the poultry sector is underpinned by considerable research efforts over the years through application of scientific innovations. These research efforts were largely geared towards the following: improving genetic strains specialised for food use (meat and eggs) and regional conditions; improving knowledge of nutritional requirements and ability to match these for variable conditions; and ensuring stable environment for growth and production. These research efforts are still ongoing in the light of new challenges facing the animal industry in terms of birds' welfare and issues of environmental pollution as well as consumers' concerns of food quality and safety.

So far, the objectives of nutritional research include selecting ingredients good for the growth of the bird, enabling conditions for the bird to express its full genetic potential, eliminating certain disease conditions, reducing the cost of production,

maintaining product quality and allowing for partial alleviation of the adverse effects of environmental factors. Thus, advances in nutrition research are crucial if the poulry sector is to continue to play a major role in animal protein food production in meeting the needs of ever-increasing world population.

This paper discusses the importance and growth of the poultry sector as well as highlights the nutritional research efforts over the years, achievements, some notable advance research techniques employed, and challenges confronting nutritional research in the 21st Century.

#### **2. Importance and growth of the poultry sector**

Poultry meat and eggs are cherished worldwide and consumed in various forms. They are proteins and a source of essential micro-nutrients such as vitamin A, vitamin B12, riboflavin, calcium, iron and zinc [1]. Therefore, they are important in human nutrition and health.

Both the meat and eggs are produced in large quantities all over the world for food and income. As such, the poultry sector is one of the leading suppliers of meat worldwide [2]. So much income can be derived from poultry products. For example, America which is the world's leading producer of poultry in 2017, had its combined value of poultry meat and eggs up to the amount of \$42.7 billion [3]. Besides, poultry products are generally cheap, making them affordable for low-income earners in both developing and advanced countries.

In fact, the poultry sector has the potential to grow faster as a result of enabling factors such as population growth, breeding of highly-productive strains of meatand egg-type birds, improvements in consumers' incomes, and modern technologies for processing feed/poultry products. However, the cost of feeding poultry is a major factor controlling the push for more incomes by farmers [4].

#### **3. Overview of poultry nutrition research and development**

Research involving avian species such as chickens, turkeys and ducks in the early 1900's appeared to be limited in scope (e.g. native birds) and unstructured. However, by the middle of 1900's, there began a surge in research with a structured approach in all aspects of production with greater focus on nutrition [5]. Nutritional science is one that looks at the biological sum of processes that occur before and after food intake as they relate to growth, development and health maintenance [6]. Thus, nutritional science relies very much on the other sciences (chemistry, physics, immunology, biochemistry, behavioural sciences, physiology, microbiology, molecular biology, statistics, genetics and food science) and often studied in an integrated way; since it is not a pure science but draws extensively on these root disciplines. Also, nutrition is complex; therefore, nutrition research requires sophisticated designs and analytic capabilities that can be addressed in an interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary manner.

In terms of progress made in poultry production, it has been reported that research in genetics contributed more than nutrition. For instance, genetics accounted for 85–90% of the change in growth rate of broilers and turkeys over the past 50 years, whereas 10–15% was attributed to advances in nutrition and management [5]. **Table 1** [7] shows some dramatic successes chalked over the years through poultry genetic research. However, the realisation of the genetic potential of birds,

**5**

*Advances in Poultry Nutrition Research-A Review DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.95990*

increased productivity, and decreased susceptibity to disease depend on appropri-

**Avian specie Trait Performance level**

Broiler chicken Number of days until 2 kg 100 40 **60**

Layer chicken Number of eggs per year 230 300 **30**

Kg feed per kg live weight 3.0 1.7 **43**

Number of eggs per tonne of feed 5,000 9,000 **80**

**1960 2005 ∆ (%)**

The phenomenal progress in the poultry sector brought about by scientific researches is achieved through the concerted efforts of researchers in both academia and industry. The academic community comprises centres of higher learning such as universities and national research institutions, while the industrial community consists of the private sector including commercial breeding and development companies. The academic community is primarily involved in basic research by exploring new grounds, which enable building of a storehouse of pertinent knowledge; and applied research for direct application to the industry; whereas the industrial community takes their experimental procedures into the

The nutritional research focus in both academia and industrial sector over the years has been changing in response to challenges that faced poultry production in terms of output, economic, environmental and consumer demands. The nutritional research focus in the 1950's to 1980's was on production efficiency with the whole animal in mind; and then, there was a shift in research focus between 1990's and today to maximisation of biological and economical performance with regards to the whole animal or selected organs and tissues [5]. Also, there has been more integration of nutrition with other disciplines such as microbiology and nano technology. In fact, prevailing challenges in the poultry sector suggest that future research focus will be more about efficiency of meat/egg production, meat/egg quality and safety for human consumption, feed efficiency to reduce environmental pollution

Some spectacular research successes in nutrition have been documented [4, 5] as

1910–1920 • Discovery of calcium and phosphorus requirements for the young chick and laying hen

• Lysine recognised as being essential to the growth of young chicks

1900–1910 • Emergence of the notion of a 'vitamin' to define secondary dietary factors • Discovery of Vitamin and its relationship with carotene

• Distinction between water and fat soluble Vitamin A

• Existence of many vitamins within the B group postulated

1920–1930 • Vitamin D recognised as the active factor in cod liver oil

ate nutrition. Hence the relevance of nutritional research.

*Increase of genetic potential with consequent superior efficiency of poultry production.*

realm of industrial application to build a business.

and health and welfare of birds [5].

**Achievements**

shown in **Table 2**.

**Research Period**

**Table 1.**


**Table 1.**

*Advances in Poultry Nutrition Research*

tional research in the 21st Century.

human nutrition and health.

both developing and advanced countries.

interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary manner.

maintaining product quality and allowing for partial alleviation of the adverse effects of environmental factors. Thus, advances in nutrition research are crucial if the poulry sector is to continue to play a major role in animal protein food produc-

This paper discusses the importance and growth of the poultry sector as well as highlights the nutritional research efforts over the years, achievements, some notable advance research techniques employed, and challenges confronting nutri-

Poultry meat and eggs are cherished worldwide and consumed in various forms.

Both the meat and eggs are produced in large quantities all over the world for food and income. As such, the poultry sector is one of the leading suppliers of meat worldwide [2]. So much income can be derived from poultry products. For example, America which is the world's leading producer of poultry in 2017, had its combined value of poultry meat and eggs up to the amount of \$42.7 billion [3]. Besides, poultry products are generally cheap, making them affordable for low-income earners in

In fact, the poultry sector has the potential to grow faster as a result of enabling factors such as population growth, breeding of highly-productive strains of meatand egg-type birds, improvements in consumers' incomes, and modern technologies for processing feed/poultry products. However, the cost of feeding poultry is a

Research involving avian species such as chickens, turkeys and ducks in the early 1900's appeared to be limited in scope (e.g. native birds) and unstructured. However, by the middle of 1900's, there began a surge in research with a structured approach in all aspects of production with greater focus on nutrition [5]. Nutritional science is one that looks at the biological sum of processes that occur before and after food intake as they relate to growth, development and health maintenance [6]. Thus, nutritional science relies very much on the other sciences (chemistry, physics, immunology, biochemistry, behavioural sciences, physiology, microbiology, molecular biology, statistics, genetics and food science) and often studied in an integrated way; since it is not a pure science but draws extensively on these root disciplines. Also, nutrition is complex; therefore, nutrition research requires sophisticated designs and analytic capabilities that can be addressed in an

In terms of progress made in poultry production, it has been reported that research in genetics contributed more than nutrition. For instance, genetics

accounted for 85–90% of the change in growth rate of broilers and turkeys over the past 50 years, whereas 10–15% was attributed to advances in nutrition and management [5]. **Table 1** [7] shows some dramatic successes chalked over the years through poultry genetic research. However, the realisation of the genetic potential of birds,

major factor controlling the push for more incomes by farmers [4].

**3. Overview of poultry nutrition research and development**

They are proteins and a source of essential micro-nutrients such as vitamin A, vitamin B12, riboflavin, calcium, iron and zinc [1]. Therefore, they are important in

tion in meeting the needs of ever-increasing world population.

**2. Importance and growth of the poultry sector**

**4**

*Increase of genetic potential with consequent superior efficiency of poultry production.*

increased productivity, and decreased susceptibity to disease depend on appropriate nutrition. Hence the relevance of nutritional research.

The phenomenal progress in the poultry sector brought about by scientific researches is achieved through the concerted efforts of researchers in both academia and industry. The academic community comprises centres of higher learning such as universities and national research institutions, while the industrial community consists of the private sector including commercial breeding and development companies. The academic community is primarily involved in basic research by exploring new grounds, which enable building of a storehouse of pertinent knowledge; and applied research for direct application to the industry; whereas the industrial community takes their experimental procedures into the realm of industrial application to build a business.

The nutritional research focus in both academia and industrial sector over the years has been changing in response to challenges that faced poultry production in terms of output, economic, environmental and consumer demands. The nutritional research focus in the 1950's to 1980's was on production efficiency with the whole animal in mind; and then, there was a shift in research focus between 1990's and today to maximisation of biological and economical performance with regards to the whole animal or selected organs and tissues [5]. Also, there has been more integration of nutrition with other disciplines such as microbiology and nano technology. In fact, prevailing challenges in the poultry sector suggest that future research focus will be more about efficiency of meat/egg production, meat/egg quality and safety for human consumption, feed efficiency to reduce environmental pollution and health and welfare of birds [5].

Some spectacular research successes in nutrition have been documented [4, 5] as shown in **Table 2**.



**7**

*Advances in Poultry Nutrition Research-A Review DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.95990*

**Achievements**

**Research Period**

1990s until today

**Table 2.**

**4. Advances in nutritional research**

*Nutritional research achievements through the years.*

ing, etc.

avian health and environment.

**4.1 Feed analysis**

Over the years, researchers have improved or introduced new research techniques in their quest to obtain valid data or keep pace with new challenges confronting the poultry sector. In this section, I will attempt to discuss some of the advances made in poultry nutritional research with the aim of improving productivity and quality of meat/eggs, welfare of birds as well as environmental sustainability. These include modern techniques for feed analysis and nutritional experimentation involving novel feed ingredients and/or feed additives, nano-minerals, mineral toxicity as well as dietary management strategies to curtail problems and constraints of

1970–1980 • Refinement of nutrient requirements in terms of their digestibility in feedstuffs • Identification of mycotoxins and their dietary tolerance limits

> • Nutrition of secondary species (turkey, guinea-fowl, duck) • Routine use of NIRS for the rapid analysis of raw materials

• Understanding anti-nutritional factors in feedstuffs

• Commercial sale of synthetic tryptophan and threonine

• Complex modelling for biological and economic performance

the absorption and utilisation of nutrients

• New and advanced microscopy techniques

• Prediction equations for requirements • Modelling of requirements of poultry • Development of true digestibility in poultry

1980–1990 • Computerised least-cost feed formulation

• Use of supplemental enzymes

• Development of feed additive: antibiotics, growth promoters and coccidiostats

• Development of the ideal protein concept and formulation for digestible nutrients, and

• Use of statistical packages (SAS, GENSTAT, etc) to ease computational burden of large data and accurate estimation of production performance, growth, and feed consumption

• State-of-the-art technologies for weighing feed and birds, feed evaluation, meat process-

• Non-intrusive ultrasound technology to assess breast meat yield of live bird

• Lixiscope that uses x-ray to safely detect and identify Tibia Dyschondroplasia (TD)

The surest way of meeting the nutrient requirements of birds is having adequate knowledge of nutrient contents of various feedstuffs available. This requires feed analysis with regards to nutrient composition and anti-nutrient contents. There


*Advances in Poultry Nutrition Research*

**Achievements**

1930–1940 • Discovery of riboflavin a the active factor in milk products necessary to prevent the

• Initiation of work on improvements to soya bean meal and its use in animal feeding

• Sale of synthetic riboflavin, niacin, vitamin E, vitamin K, choline and biotin

• Estimations of vitamins and amino acids through microbiological techniques

• Discovery of cyanocobalamin (vitamin B12) previously referred to as 'animal protein

• First use of analogue computers in diet formulation on the basis of 'least cost' (optimisa-

• General use of the concept of metaboilsable energy in poultry production

• First use of linear programmes for diet formulation on personal computers

1950–1960 • Development of Near Infrared Reflectance Spectroscopy (NIRS) for feed analysis

condition of 'curled toe' in young growing chicks

• Discovery of threonine as the latest essential amino acid

• First definitions of biotin requirements of poultry

• First tables from National Research Council (NRC)

• Appearance of first effective coccidiostats • Formulation of energy rich diets for broilers

• Vitamin and mineral requirements • Nutrient content of feedstuffs

• General use of synthetic methionine

• Dietary amino acid requirements

• First commercial sale dwarf breeders

• First use of antibiotics in poultry production

• Discovery of zinc as a trace element for poultry • First commercial sale of lysine of industrial origin

• Concept of calcium: phosphorus balance

• Perosis caused by manganese deficiency • Isolation of vitamin B1 (thiamine)

• Development of the use of fishmeal • Isolation of pantothenic acid

• Synthesis of pyridoxine (vitamin B6)

• Development of pelleting of feeds

• Sale of synthetic methionine • Discovery of folic acid • Sale of synthetic vitamin A

• Discovery of vitamin K

1940–1950 • Evidence of biotin deficiency

factor'

tion routines)

1960–1970 • Amino acid content of feedstuffs

**Research Period**

**6**


#### **Table 2.**

*Nutritional research achievements through the years.*
