Investigations on amino acids for optimal gut health and productivity in broiler chickens raised without antimicrobial growth promoters

The largest cost of raising chickens is feed, therefore maintaining chickens in an environment that supports proper nutrition is essential for productivity and profitability. However, nutrient absorption and gut adaptation to luminal inflammatory stress is challenging production efficiency as a consequence of the restriction on the use of antibiotic growth promoters (AGP) and anti-coccidial drugs. The metabolic changes induced by inflammation are homeostatic in nature and thus nutrients that would have been utilized for growth and skeletal muscle accretion are diverted to support host defense systems. The available scientific information on aspects of amino acids nutrition and gut health is fragmented. The proposed research will use meta-analysis approach to establish a bibliographic database on interactions among amino acids and other nutrients on metabolic and immune responses in broiler chickens and identify gaps in knowledge that require further experimentation.

Faculty Supervisor:

Elijah G Kiarie;Marie-Pierre Létourneau Montminy

Student:

Emily Kim

Partner:

Ajinomoto Animal Nutrition Europe

Discipline:

Animal science

Sector:

Agriculture

University:

Program: