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Modernized nutritional strategies designed to suit the changing needs of broilers will be the wave of the future in broiler production, predicts Dr. José Ignacio Barragán Professor, University of Valencia, Spain.

"Instead of the usual starter, grower and finishing feeds designed to accommodate the administration of in-feed anticoccidials and their withdrawal times, we can use vaccines for coccidiosis control and take advantage of the updated nutritional strategies they allow," he says.

"Up until now, everybody has been talking about feed concentration, levels of energy and levels of protein. But there is more to it than that. We now understand that maximizing digestibility is even more important," Barragán says.

Nutrition should be designed to help build intestinal health early in life and to protect birds from mortality later in their lives, when losses are more costly due to the resources that have been invested, he says.

Some broiler producers, especially those who have been using the same nutritional approach for years, may find this new way of thinking difficult to embrace, but Barragán says that with new nutritional concepts, it is possible to reduce the concentration of the feed, maintain good performance and save money.

The nutrition plan he describes for birds vaccinated against coccidiosis emphasizes good digestibility during the starter phase, which is accomplished by enriching the characteristics of the starter feed by increasing the amino acid content.

Digestibility is also important in formulating effective second-stage feeds, he says.

"That may mean increasing the quality of the raw materials we’re using to not only maintain growth but intestinal health by reducing the amount of residual bacteria left in the gut — bacteria that can nurture harmful microorganisms."

These changes may increase the cost of the starter and grower phases, but used in concert with vaccines, growers can recoup those costs and more. "The birds will save [farms] money in the end because they will not need expensive finishing feed," he says.

Spring 2008

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