Global Poultry Experts Envisage Redefining Poultry Nutrition at the Alltech South Asia Poultry Nutrition Summit
[COLOMBO, Sri Lanka] – More than 45 key South Asian poultry nutritionists gathered to attend Alltech’s recent South Asia Poultry Nutrition in Kalutara, Sri Lanka. The two and half-day event provided a unique opportunity for attendees from India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh to interact with global poultry experts and discuss the requirements and challenges of the region’s poultry nutrition.
“The way we look at today’s poultry nutrition will dramatically change in the coming years,” said Matthew Smith, regional director, Alltech Asia-Pacific, in the opening remarks of the summit.
According to the Food & Agricultural Organisation (FAO), poultry is responsible for more than 80 percent of the total global livestock production, which puts South Asia in a unique position as more than 25 million tons poultry feed comes from the region. With close to a billion undernourished people globally, poultry will play an important role for protein in diet due to its extensive acceptance within a variety of cultures and religions. Smith introduced the key objective of the summit of improving feed milling technology for a producing safe, reliable, traceable feed along with feed formulation and management practices.
Dr. Peter Ferket, William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor from North Carolina University shared his experience in feed mill operations and preventative maintenance as well as feed mill and inspection audits. Ferket introduced the major key performance indicators (KPI) and feed mill reports that help achieve better efficiency.
Dr. Kenneth Bruerton from Protea Park Nutrition Service, Australia, spoke about energy, amino acids, vitamins and mineral requirements for broiler, layers and breeders. He emphasised the health and performance aspects of the use of non-antibiotic additives over antibiotics, which are banned in Europe, Korea and several other countries around the world.
Dr. Bruerton advised attendees to pay close attention to the source of ingredients such as organic trace minerals. Some cheaper minerals may be contaminated by heavy metals, which would negatively affect the bird’s health and performance.
“Chelated minerals are not the same, and the data of one cannot be used to support the use of a different product,” said Dr. Bruerton.
Nutritionists need to consider replacing inorganic sources with organic minerals such as Bioplex®. Bruerton also strongly suggested that nutritionists have accurate nutrient specifications for their own feed ingredients. Another important topic of the summit was early chick nutrition, “the foundation for profit.” Dr. Ferket pointed out that nutrition has not kept pace with genetics and the time has come to close the gap. He discussed epigenetics, in-ovo feeding and nutritional imprinting for exploiting the full genetic potential of modern birds.
“It has never been a better time for Alltech to be in South Asia,” concluded Dr. Aman Sayed, general manager, Alltech South Asia. “Consumers are becoming more and more conscious about better quality, safer and traceable food, and Alltech’s cutting edge technologies such as nutrigenomics, algae and on farm solutions are fully prepared to support these requirements.”