Modern poultry operations have undergone dramatic changes in production practices in the last 50 years. Genetic selection for high growth rates and reproductive traits as well as improved management techniques and dietary requirements has led to increased performance standards in all livestock operations.

It is prudent to expect that poultry raised on feeds without AGP will experience higher incidences of intestinal health problems and prolonged period of immunological challenge. The metabolic changes induced by inflammation are homeostatic in nature and thus nutrients that would have been utilized for growth, skeletal muscle accretion and egg production are diverted to support host defense systems.

Adding to that, in recent years, microorganisms have been isolated that have developed antimicrobial resistance against a wide range of medically important drugs. For this reason, governmental administrations and food animal producing organizations worldwide are looking into the possibility to reduce antimicrobial use, either as veterinary drug or as AGP, in animal production.

Therefore, alternative dietary strategies to AGP are needed to preserve the balance of gut microbiota in chickens to maintain gut health and function which will be imperative for profitability and sustainability of the poultry industry under restricted use of antimicrobials.

During the webinar, Pascal Thiery and Tim Goossens, Global Scientific & technical managers for Health by Nutrition, will present more in depth the dietary strategies and role of feed additives in AGP free production.

Program:

· Moving away from AGP’s: lessons learned , 35 min

By Dr. Pascal Thiery, Global Scientific & Technical manager for Health by Nutrition

· Moving towards solutions: building up resilience in the gut , 35 min

By Dr. Tim Goossens, Global Scientific & Technical manager for Health by Nutrition

· Questions / Answers, 20 min

By Hermann Van der Westhuizen & Andrew Catlett – On behalf of Adisseo’s Poultry technical team MEA