Good quality water is extremely necessary for better intestinal health and to establish a healthy gut flora, which will facilitate the birds to absorb all the essential nutrients. During the entire lifetime, a five-pound broiler will consume about 18 pounds of water, compared to approximately 10 pounds of feed (Lacy, 2002). Due to rapid growth in the poultry sector,people have switched to semiautomatic and automation lines of water supply to their poultry flock.If the proper hygiene is not maintained in the water line there may be a high chance of biofilm formation. What is biofilm? Biofilms ..read more

The performance of commercial broilers not only depends on a balanced nutritional diet, but also is greatly influenced by form of feed. It is found that pellet feed significantly influences the performance of the flock . Feed form comprises two distinct elements, first the microstructure, that describes the particle size and uniformity and, secondly the macrostructure that describes pellet size, hardness, and quality. These two factors are linked as all feeds are first reduced to particles (mash) before being pelleted. Feed is the link factor between formulator(nutritionist) and farm. So, not ..read more

Trace minerals are indispensable components in poultry diets. Minerals like Calcium, Phosphorus, and Manganese play a major role in growth, bone development of birds, whereas Copper and Zinc are responsible for maintaining the feather color. Minerals have a key role in enzyme structure like Catalase(Fe), carbonic anhydrous(Zn), SOD(Cu,Zn,Mn) and GSH(Se). There are two forms of trace elements available to birds ie., Inorganic and Organic form. Trace minerals in inorganic forms such as oxides, chlorides, carbonates and sulfates salts are used for a long time in poultry diets. In commercial prac ..read more

The major cost in any system of poultry production is feed which accounts for up to 70 % of total cost per bird. The upsurge feed cost has been a major constraint in profitable poultry production in most of the developing countries. In order to cut down the feed cost, cheaper and non-conventional feed ingredients are sometimes in use which contain a higher percentage of Non-Starch Polysaccharides (soluble and insoluble/crude fiber) along with starch. Non Starch Polysaccharides (NSPs) are polymeric carbohydrates that differ in composition and structure from starch with beta linkage (Morgan et a ..read more

Water is the most important nutrient for the overall health and performance of birds.Water intake of poultry is approximately twice that of the intake of feeds. During its lifetime, a five-pound broiler will consume about 18 pounds of water, compared to approximately 10 pounds of feed (Lacy, 2002). A key factor that determines the wholesomeness of water is its microbial quality. Water is presumed safe if it has a zero microbial population.The drinking water plays an important role in the transmission of some bacterial, viral and protozoan diseases like Colibacillosis, Fowl Typhoid, Avian Chol ..read more

Currently, the animal feeding practice includes prophylactic approaches for supporting intestinal health and immunity, to reduce the incidences of dysbiosis, diseases, and the need for antimicrobial medication. The antibiotics kill the pathogen or restrict their multiplication to control the infection from advancing in the host. As per the report of the World Health Organization, the increased and inappropriate use of antibiotics leads to the development of antibiotic resistant bacteria.(WHO 2005). To avoid this issue people started using alternative antibiotic growth promoters like probiotic ..read more

  Early nutrition plays an important role in the chick’s life cycle. But in reality early feeding is not commonly practised due to multiple reasons like delay in removing of chick from incubator until the maximum number of eggs hatched from the hatching incubator,  transit time from hatchery to the farms resulting in the mobilization of body reserves (yolk sac) to support metabolism and thermoregulation. As soon as a chick hatches, it begins losing moisture through its breath, resulting in a decrease in body weight . Yolk utilisation is more rapid in  early-fed  chick than ..read more

  In the current scenario when the cost of feed ingredients, especially the prices of soya meal and corn are soaring, counting each penny invested in the production of egg is very important. Controlling the cost of production becomes very important during summer when breakage of eggs is significantly increased. It is estimated that the incidence of broken eggs range from 6 to 8%. The occurrence of shell breakage can be categorized into several stages- 1) before lay 2) at the point of lay 3) during collection 4) during processing 5) during shipping. It is approximately 3.5 % at the point ..read more

Worldwide, the effect of climatic change has become a great challenge in poultry production. As the global climate is changing, it alters the environmental temperatures, precipitation patterns and atmospheric carbon dioxide. Poultry farming mainly depends on climatic conditions such as temperature and humidity. Several factors can be involved but heat stress is one of most important environmental factors influencing a wide range of chicken performances including reduced feed intake which, in turn, affects growth rate, body weight,egg production , egg quality, meat quality, semen quality and fe ..read more

Managing heat stress in poultry remains a major concern for both producers and scientists.  It accounts for an annual loss of $128 to $165 million in the poultry industry alone. The impact of heat stress results in a drastic change in physiological activity linked with a decrease in feed consumption, growth rate, eggshell quality sand biochemical change like increase in the level of glucocorticoids. This leads to reduced immunity, and breakdown of muscle due to gluconeogenesis and the upward surge of this glucocorticoids will lead to the insensitivity of insulin. During heat stress, ther ..read more