In today’s world where the majority of chickens are raised commercially, marketed wholesale and distributed worldwide, an epidemic of any kind causing deaths of thousands of chicken in a sure downfall in the poultry economy.
Producers want to make sure that doesn’t happen, therefore colleges are offering degrees in research to perfect not only the breeding of chickens for specific purposes such as egg or meat production, but, what kind of feed is necessary for them to grow fast and efficiently with no health problems. Hygienic and efficient poultry production is of paramount importance to both the farmer and the consumer. As a result, poultry management research has concentrated on issues such as feed quality and digestibility, hygiene and management practices and environmental protection.
We have bred chickens to increase their growth potential, also their size and shape, which has altered their digestive tracts. Such change is driven by least cost formulation to get the bird as big as possible in the shortest time. The digestive tracts and endogenous enzyme production cannot handle this situation. Extra enzymes are added to improve the conversion efficiency of the diet into weight gain of the bird.
In recent years there has been a concerted effort to improve the nutritive worth of feedstuffs by using exogenous enzymes. On the basis of many reports it may be concluded that the nutritional and, therefore, economic value of corn, soybean meal (SBM) and other ingredients commonly used in poultry diets in North America can be improved by the addition of appropriate preparations of phytase, carbohydrase and other enzyme activities.
An increase in the productive value with enzyme supplementation can be achieved by: 1) release of available phosphorus from phytate hydrolysis; 2) elimination of the nutrient encapsulating effect of the cell walls and therefore improved energy and amino acid availability; 3) solubilization of cell wall, non starch polysaccharides (NSP) for more effective hindgut fermentation and improved overall energy utilization; 4)hydrolysis of certain types of carbohydrate-protein linkages and therefore improved availability of amino acids and 5) elimination of the anti-nutritive properties of certain dietary components, including NSP, by their enzymatic hydrolysis to the prebiotic type components which, in turn, may facilitate gut development and health in young chickens.
Large feed companies have hired experts to study and evaluate the quality of the feeds they produce and even have experimental farms to test the effectiveness of feed supplements. The greatest cost of raising chickens is the cost of feed. It is not economical to feed an unbalanced diet. Always provide your birds with quality, commercially prepared feeds. The type of feed recommended varies with the age and intended use of the bird whether for meat or eggs.
In summary, it is up to the producer to select the type of chicken or chicken product they want to produce and select the feed from the supplier that best meets their individual requirements. The physical care of the chicken is also in their hands and it is up to them to provide a clean, ventilated environment, sufficient clean water, necessary disease control, parasite prevention and rapid waste removal. If all of this is accomplished you will have a successful poultry operation.
