POULTRY

NUTRITION
MALANA,ROSARIO K.
AGUIRRE, RACHEL
EVASCO, FRANCIS
AGUILAR, ANDREI
Poultry
• Is a term used for any domesticated bird, granivorous, captive- raised for meat & egg production
& are sometimes kept for pleasure by hobbyists, fanciers, and sport’s man organizations.
Poultry nutrition
• Poultry nutrition has evolved start period following World War II
• The science of nutrition involves providing a balance nutrients that the best meets animals
needs for growth, maintenance, egg production.
• Animals eats to acquire energy to be use to perform normal body functions such as breathing,
walking, eating, digesting, and maintaining body temperature.
• Nutrients provide poultry the energy and material needed for the development of bone, flesh,
feathers, and eggs.
• Nutritionists are the one who balances & produces the feed formulation.
 Anatomy and Physiology of Avian
Digestion
• Crop – expansible pouch in the esophagus that stores foods during meal.
• Stomach (proventriculus) – produces HCl & pepsin.
• Ventriculus (gizzard)- grinding feed particles
• Duodenum – acids neutralizes by the secretions of pancreas. The absorption of nutrients id primarily in the
small intestine.
• Cecum – sites for fermentation.
• Colon – very short compared to other mammals.
Receives digesta from SI and intermittently from cecum.
• Coprodeum
• Urodeum
• Proctodeum
Factors affecting the nutrient requirements of
poultry
GENETICS

•different species, breeds or strains of birds have

different average body sizes, growth rates, and
production levels and will absorb and utilizes
nutrient from feed with different levels of efficiency.
AGE
•related to both body weight and the stage of maturity n bird.
SEX
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 affect

nutrients requirements.
AMBIENT TEMPERATURE

poultry have increased energy requirements to

maintain normal body temperature in cold and hot
ambient.
***Heat increment
HOUSING SYSTEM
influences the level of activity of the birds which will
require more energy.
• Health status – birds experiencing a disease challenge by benefit from an increase in the
intake of nutrients, most commonly vitamins.
• Production aims – optimal nutrients composition of the diet will vary according to
production aims.
In formulating poultry diets the following nutrients are considered:
• Energy
• Protein
• Fat
• Vitamins
• Minerals
• Water

These separate types of ingredient provides a specific quantity & quality of nutrients to the diet.
Ingredients are classified as:
• Animal proteins
• Vegetable proteins
• Vegetable fats
• Animal fats
• Micro & macro minerals
• Vitamins premixes
Energy
• poultry needs energy for growth, maintenance of body tissue,
production of eggs, regulation of body temperature and activity.
•Derived from the oxidation of carbohydrates, lipids,
amino acids, and related organic compounds.
Energy sources:
• Cereal grains
• Corn
• Wheat
• Oats, barley
• Sorghum
• Millet
• Rice
Alternative Energy Sources:
*cereals + milling by products
Wheat middlings
Rice screenings
*root + tubers
cassava, roots, sweet potatoes, taro, yams
*fruit + by-products
banana, plantain, breadfruit, dates
*miscellaneous
molasses (by-product of sugar cane industry)
fats (palm oil, coconut oil, animal fats)s
Proteins
•Proteins are complex compounds made up of smaller units called amino acids
•For poultry, methionine and lysine are the two most critical amino acids. Deficiencies of either
of these will lead to a significant drop in productivity and the health of the flock.
•Proteins are used in the construction of body tissues such as muscles, nerves, cartilage, skin,
feathers, beak, and physiological molecules (such as enzymes and hormones), for egg
production.
• Proteins also provide a small amount of energy.
•Birds are unable to synthesize arginine from simple precursor.
•Several AA are dispensable (alanine, aspartic acid, asparaginine, glutamic acid, and glutamine
•3 AA essential for growing poultry (glycine, serine, and proline)
Two major kinds of interactions of AA:
Imbalances – execcive dietary levels o AA increase the requirement fo the most
limiting AA.

Antagonisms – are ore specific and an AA need to be first limiting to be affected by

an antagonism
Carbohydrates
•Compounds with carbon, hydrogen, & oxygen.
•Are main energy source for poultry and make up the largest portion of a poultry diet.
•Important sources of carbohydrates in poultry diets include corn, wheat, barley, and other
grains.
•Pentoses (ribose & deoxyribose nucleic acids), xylose, and arabinose are not well absorbed by
poultry. Excess of 10 – 15% of the diet can cause flatus and diarrhea.
Fats and Lipids
•Fat provides nine calories of energy per gram.
•Fat must be present in the diet for poultry to absorb the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K. In
addition to its role in nutrition, fat is added to feed to reduce grain dust. Fat addition also
improves the palatability of feed (that is, makes feed more appetizing)
•composed of smaller compounds called fatty acids.
•Fatty acids are responsible for cell-membrane integrity and hormone synthesis.
•Linoleic acid is considered an essential fatty acid because poultry cannot generate it from other
nutrients (for example, by converting one fatty acid to another).
•Triglycerides are the major lipids in poultry diets.
Vitamins
•Vitamins are a group of organic compounds that poultry require in small quantities.
•Despite the low requirement levels, vitamins are essential for normal body functions, growth,
and reproduction.
•Poultry require 13 vitamins.
2 categories:
Fat soluble
Water soluble
 Fat-soluble Vitamins
• Are A, D, E, and K.
• Vitamin A is required for normal growth and development of epithelial tissue (skin and the linings of the
digestive, reproductive, and respiratory tracts) and reproduction.
• Vitamin D3 is required for normal growth, bone development, and eggshell formation.
• Vitamin K is essential for blood-clot formation.
• Vitamin E – serves antioxidant functions in tissues.

***antioxidants are added to poultry diets containing added fat to prevent feed from going rancid.
***ethoxyquin – a common antioxidant
Water-soluble Vitamins
•Include vitamin C and the B vitamins. The B vitamins include vitamin B12, biotin, folacin, niacin,
pantothenic acid, pyridoxine, riboflavin, and thiamin.
•B vitamins are involved in many metabolic functions, including energy metabolism.
•Poultry can make vitamin C, so there is no dietary requirement established for this vitamin.
Minerals
•Inorganic chemicals (chemicals not containing carbon) which help control body processes and
are required for normal health and growth.
•Poultry require higher levels of macro minerals and lower levels of micro minerals in their diets.
Micro minerals
• Include copper, iodine, iron, manganese, selenium, and zinc.
• Iodine is required to produce thyroid hormones that regulate energy metabolism.
• Zinc is involved in many enzyme-based reactions in the body, and iron aids oxygen transportation
within the body.
Macro minerals:
• Include calcium, phosphorus, chlorine, magnesium, potassium, and sodium.
• Calcium's role in proper bone formation and eggshell quality, but calcium's important role in blood-
clot formation and muscle contraction is less well known.
• Limestone or oyster shell are common sources of calcium.
• Dicalcium phosphate is a common source of phosphorus and calcium
• Phosphorus is important in bone development, and it is part of cell membranes and is required for
many metabolic functions.
• Chlorine is important in the formation of hydrochloric acid in the stomach and thus plays a role in
digestion.
• Sodium and potassium are electrolytes important for metabolic, muscle, and nerve functions.
• Magnesium also assists with metabolic and muscle functions.
Water
•one of the most important nutrients. Requires an adequate supply of pure, clean water.
•in a laying flock, a shortage of water for just a few hours can result in reduced egg production, so
clean water should be available at all times.
•use automatic waterers, fill the drinkers twice a day. If the drinkers are filled only in the morning,
birds can run out of water by midday.
•a laying hen drinks about 25% of her daily water intake during the last two hours of daylight.
•also helps cool the bird through evaporation. (Birds do not have sweat glands, so their heat loss
occurs in the air sacs and lungs through rapid respiration.)
• If supply of water is inadequate, birds become dehydrated, feed intake declines, and
physiological functions become impaired.
• Excess K & Mg also increases water intake and excretion
 Nutrients Deficiency Symptoms
Protein/Essential acid ↓ feed intake, ↓ growth in proportion to degree of
deficiency; ↑ deposition of tissues.

Essential fatty acid Reduced growth & condition progresses as buildup of fat
(Linoleic acid) occurs in liver, susceptibility to respiratory diseases.

Vitamins
Vitamin A Anorexia, growth retardation, drowsiness,
incoordination, emaciation, and ruffled feathers.

Vitamin D Retarded growth, leg weakness, beak & claws become

soft & pliable, and poor calcification of tibia & femur.

Vitamin E Encephalomalacia, exudative diathesis, and muscular

Vitamin K Subcutaneous & internal hemorrhages; delayed blood

cotting
Vitamin B1 (Thiamine) Anorexia, polyneuritis, and paralysis

Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin) Slow growth, curled toe paralysis, walk with hocks with
the aid of their wings.

Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine) Retarded growth, dermatitis, convulsion, and anemia.

Vitamin B12 (Cyanocobalamin) Reduced weight gain, in feed intake along with poor
feathering and nervous disorder.

Niacin (Nicotinic acid) Loss of appetite, retarded growth, general weakness,

Pantothenic acid Reduced growth & feed consumption, poor feathering,

encrustations around beak & eyes, and dermatitis of the
feet.
Biotin Crusty dermatitis of footpad, eyes, & mouth; perosis,
poor feathering

Folacin (Folic acid) Poor feathering, slow growth, perosis, macrocytic

anemia, and reduced WBC.
Choline Poor growth & perosis.

Minerals
Calcium Growth retardation & reduced feed intake, rickets,
reduced activity & sensitivity, abnormal posture & gait,
↑ urine value.

Phosphorus Rickets & poor growth.

Chlorine Extremely poor growth rate, high mortality,
hemoconcentration, dehydration.

Magnesium Retarded growth, lethargic & often pant & gasp, exhibit
convulsions & go onto comatose state when disturbed.

Manganese Perosis characterized by enlargement & malformation of

tibio-metatarsal joint, twisting & bending of the distal
end of the tibia & proximal end of torso-metatarsus,
thickening & shortening od gastrocnemius/ Achilles of
tendon from its condyle.

Iodine Enlarged thyroid

Zinc Retarded growth, shoertening & thickening of leg bones,
enlargement of the hock joints, scaling of the skin, very
poor feathering, reduced feed utilization, loss of
appetite, and in severe cases mortality.
Iron Severe anemia with reduction or packed cell volume,
impaired feather pigmentation.
Copper Anemia, ↑fragility of bone, thickened epiphyseal
cartilage, reduced vascular penetration of the thick
cartilage.
Selenium Exudative diathesis & muscular dystrophy.
Feeding Poultry
Layers
•Goal in feeding oflaying hens is to obtain the maximum production of eggs of large size ae and
good internal & external quality with a least-cost feed formulation.
Layers for breeding population
•Goal is to obtain maximum production of eggs of an appropriate size for incubation.
Nutrition of Growing Pullets
Pullets reach sexual maturity at appx. 5 mos. of age
•During rearing period, the body weight of Leghorn pullets increases from 40g(hatching) to
nearly 1400g(20 wks. of age).
•Body weight may double in the 1st week of life; nearly double during 2nd week; gradually declines
as the pullet grows to maturity.
•The higher rate of growth during the early weeks results in requirement for the highest nutrients
density in needs at this stage of life.
Nutrition of Laying Hens
•Egg production by individual hens may exceed 300 eggs per year with average of 275 eggs.
•15kg of eggs per year or nearly ten-fold greater than the hen’s body weight.
•Laying hens need protein as a source of AA.
•Laying hens require all of minerals & vitamins that are essential for growth of the young chick
Broilers
•A term that defines a market category of poultry that can apply to all species.
•Are young chicken that grown to 5 – 7 wks. of age, at which time they are marketed for human
consumption.
•Characteristics of modern broiler chickens is their rapid growth, disposition of a large portion of
breast & leg muscle, and their relative inactivity compared to chickens used for egg production.
•Starter diets is higher in concentrations of AA. Grower & finisher diets is lower in AA.
•Finisher diet has a higher energy to protein ratio than the starter and grower diets to increase
deposition of subcutaneous adipose tissue.
•Broilers are prone to leg problems.
***tibial dyschondroplasia
• Deficiency of salt suppresses water and feed intake.
• Supplements are needed to ensure adequate intakes of fat-soluble & water-soluble vitamins and
choline.
Turkeys
•These birds are fully grown 14 wks. or more for marketing as roasters or further processed
products.
•Growth rates of turkeys are high early in the starting period and decline continuously
throughout the long rearing period.
•Starter diets and finisher diets contain higher energy densities. Grower diets contain less energy.
•Finisher diet serves to increase subcutaneous fat deposition to improve external apperance of
roasters & turkey parts.
Ducks
•They grow rapidly, 3.2 kg. – 7 weeks
•Rate of growth decline during this time, permitting the use of diets of lower nutrient density as
the ducks get older.
Japanese Quail
-smallest domestic fowl, Coturnix coturnix Japonica
-used in egg and meat production in various countries including Asia
-The size of the eggs produced, however, as percentage of body weight, is much larger than that
of Leghorn hens.
 SAMPLE NUTRITION FACTS
Amount Per 100 grams Sodium 40 mg 1%

Calories 272 Potassium 104 mg 2%

% Daily Value* % Total Carbohydrate 0 g 0%

Total Fat 25 g 38% Dietary fiber 0 g 0%

Saturated fat 7 g 35% Protein 11 g 22%

Polyunsaturated fat 5 g Vitamin C 2%

Monounsaturated fat 10 g Vitamin A 4%

Cholesterol 130 mg 43% Calcium 13%

Iron 8%

Vitamin D 0%

Cobalamin 5%

Vitamin B-6 10%

Magnesium 3%

*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on
your calorie needs.
References:
PCAARD ( Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic, and Natural Resources Research and
Development or PCAARRD, Production of Broiler)
Basic Animal Nutrition And Feeding; W. G. Pound, D.C. Church, K. R. Pond (4 th Edition)
www.growelagrovet.com
www.fao.org
www.poultryhub.org
www.wattagnet.com
THANK YOU!!