USSEC, in cooperation with the Egyptian Poultry Producers Association, organized a poultry nutrition seminar in Cairo, Egypt on May 14.
Dr. Craig Coon, animal nutrition professor at the University of Arkansas, gave two presentations to the Egyptian Poultry Producers Association, speaking about broiler breeder nutrition and broiler nutrition. He focused on how the breeder has changed over the past 25 years, discussing some of the nutrition and reproduction problems that occurred in the 90s, comparing them to some of the main issues of concern with the modern breeder. Dr. Coon’s students have generated data on breeders over the past 20 years and he discussed some of the key biological concepts that his students have developed.
A key phenomenon that has been uncovered is how protein turnover changes are linked to body composition in the pullet and breeder hen in production. The breeder dramatically decreases the fractional protein synthesis rate in breast and leg muscles at sexual maturity and elevates fractional protein breakdown rates. The breeder loses lean mass from peak production through 40 weeks and then gains lean mass from 45 to 65 weeks. The breeder supplements the feed nutrients with the breakdown of body skeletal protein during the early production period from sexual maturity to 37 weeks and then switches fuel and mobilizes body fat during the last portion of production (45 to 65 weeks). The breeders were also evaluated in metabolic chambers and the data shows that the respiratory exchange rate (RER) is highest during early production with the largest decline occurring at 45 weeks. The lower RER values in breeders shows that the largest amount of body fat is used near the 45 week mark. The body fat increases in breeders from sexual maturity until 45 weeks of age and then declines from 45 to 65 weeks. A key observation is the large amount of heat produced in breeders during the last portion of production. The Arkansas team believes the increased heat production is because of the protein accretion that occurs during the late production period. Dr. Coon thinks that future feeding systems for breeders will need to account for the protein accretion that is occurring in breeders. The maintenance requirement of broiler breeders is much larger than the requirement for daily egg production or weight gain and the requirement will continue to increase with the added protein accretion in the modern breeder.
In the second presentation, Dr. Coon discussed the response of the modern broiler to dietary amino acids and energy. The University of Arkansas team has worked with Evonik and showed with four large feeding studies that the modern broiler responds to added amino acids above the standard requirements. The broiler improves weight gain, feed conversion ratio (FCR), processing weight, and yield with amino acids. The broiler also shows that increasing AME with lysine will improve weight and FCR, but the weight gain is primarily increased fat and not protein. Economics need to be involved in making the decision of selecting the optimum digestible lysine:Mcal for your market. Dr. Coon and group have also been evaluating NE while feeding increased amino acid concentration with same energy density and also looked at NE when adding dietary energy with same amino acid concentration. Additionally, the Arkansas group has been evaluating different nutritional programs for the heavy broiler during the 42-56 day period. Dr. Coon talked about white striping and woody breast problems that may occur with the larger broilers.
Dr. Coon was very effective in presenting his technical messages to the audience. In attendance were 35 high-level management and industry participants from Egypt.