Preface

Most of the cost in poultry farming involves feeding management. Therefore, the profitability of poultry farming depends on a precisely formulated diet that provides all the essential nutrients in proper proportions. Because poultry diets consist primarily of corn and soybeans, the cost of such diets is high due to the high price of these crops. Therefore, it is essential to use other low-cost feed ingredients in poultry diets. These low-cost ingredients need to be properly proportioned so that production performance is not hampered.

Chapter 1 discusses research advancements in poultry nutrition. Chapters 2 and 3 present nontraditional poultry feed ingredients, including microbial hydrolyzed feather protein, which is useful in replacing costly protein ingredients. The evaluation of protein sources in various quail feed formulations is discussed in Chapter 4. Mineral excretion is one of the major issues in livestock and poultry farming, due to the overuse of supplements to fulfill mineral requirements. Minerals from common supplements are only absorbed to a limited extent. Minerals from nanomineral sources are better absorbed through the intestine and thus their inclusion in diets may be reduced, which can also reduce environmental burdens and the cost of feed. The topics of mineral supplements and their use are highlighted in Chapter 5. In Chapter 6, we discuss the effects of environmental temperature and how it affects poultry water intake.

Apart from production aspects, poultry health is crucial to reduce mortality and to prevent several diseases including coccidiosis, wooden breast myopathies, and gut disorders. Proper nutritional management can reduce these issues. The use of antibiotic feed additives is common in the poultry industry, but concerns have been raised regarding the potential for antimicrobial resistance, which has compelled the restriction or exclusion of antibiotics in poultry feed. This has in turn led to the use of alternative feed additives such as essential oils, flavonoid compounds, probiotics, prebiotics, synbiotics, nanoparticles, and antimicrobial peptides.

Chapter 7 delineates the importance of poultry gut health and immunity in production. Chapter 8 discusses the role of secretory defense in the gut for maintaining poultry health. The usefulness and limitations of probiotics in balancing the gut's microbial populations, nutrient utilization, and immunity are discussed in Chapter 9. Coccidiosis caused by the Eimeria spp parasite is one of the major diseases affecting the health and performance of poultry reared in intensive production systems. Chapter 10 points out how coccidiosis can be managed through appropriate nutritional strategies. Today's fast-growing broiler chickens show an increase in skeletal muscle abnormalities such as white striping and wooden myopathies characterized by degeneration, necrosis, and atrophy of muscle fibers. This is a great concern in broiler meat production resulting in the need to discard chicken meat. Chapter 11 highlights the occurrence, prevention strategies, and economic losses due to these abnormalities. Poultry experience heat stress occasionally throughout the year, especially in developing countries where poultry housing is not mechanized to maintain temperature. Heat stress exerts adverse effects on

**II**

**Section 2**

Nutrition and Health **95**

**Chapter 7 97**

**Chapter 8 119**

**Chapter 9 145** Probiotics as a Promising Additive in Broiler Feed: Advances and Limitations

**Chapter 10 161**

**Chapter 11 173**

**Chapter 12 189**

Gut Health and Immunity in Improving Poultry Production

*by Celina Eugenio Bahule and Tamiris Natalice Santos Silva*

Secretory Defense Response in the Bird's Gastro-Intestinal Tract

*by Luis-Miguel Gomez-Osorio, Zhengyu Jiang, Qian Zhang, Hui Yan,* 

Nutrition and Poultry Coccidiosis: Causes, Consequences and Current

White Striping and Wooden Breast Myopathies in the Poultry Industry: An Overview of Changes in the Skin, Bone Tissue and Intestinal Microbiota

*by Mayka Reghiany Pedrão, Rafaele Martins de Souza, Helder Louvandini, Patricia Louvandini, Roberta Barreiro de Souza, Natália de Morais Leite* 

The Effects of Heat Stress on Production, Reproduction, Health in Chicken

*by Luis-Miguel Gómez-Osorio, Jenny-Jovana Chaparro-Gutiérrez* 

*by Naga Raja Kumari Kallam and Veerasamy Sejian*

and Nutritional Strategies to Modulate It

*Ana-Maria Villegas and Todd Applegate*

Strategies to Modulate the Disease

*and Sara López-Osorio*

and Their Economic Impact

*and Fábio Augusto Garcia Coró*

and Its Dietary Amelioration *by Mathew Gitau Gicheha*

production, reproduction, gut health, and nutrient utilization, which may reduce the profitability of poultry production. Chapter 12 details how heat stress impacts production variables and how it could be alleviated by dietary means.

Taken as a whole, this book covers a wide area of poultry nutritional issues including the utilization of nontraditional feeds and nanominerals, materials that can economize feed formulation, the importance of gut health, and gut-health maintenance through the use of probiotics. This publication includes chapters on common poultry diseases such as coccidiosis, white striping, and wooden breast myopathies, and the effect of heat stress on production, reproduction, and poultry health. The editor hopes the information offered here will be useful to industry researchers and experts to improve their knowledge and understanding of important advances in poultry nutrition.

The Editor of this book would like to thank each of the authors for their valuable contributions. The Editor would also like to thank Ms. Maja Bozicevic for her excellent communication with the authors and editor during the editorial process of this book.

> **Amlan Kumar Patra** Department of Animal Nutrition, West Bengal University of Animal and Fishery Sciences, Kolkata, India

> > **1**

Section 1

Nutrition and Production

Section 1
