Additional training – Introduction to the event

This lecture is designed to teach poultry nutrition. Nutrition refers to the process of food consumption from various mixed ingredient sources and digestion of nutrients for life functions, such as growth, reproduction and maintenance. To understand nutrition, it is important to know about nutrients and how they are used by poultry and about the sources of nutrients being the individual feed ingredients. Nutrients are chemicals essential for life functions in all living things. Different life forms have their own specific requirements for nutrients. Ruminant animals such as cattle can obtain most of their nutrients from grass, whereas chickens require cereal grains as a source of nutrients. The major nutrients are energy, protein and amino acids, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals and will be  covered in this section. The sources of nutrients for typical poultry feed are also covered. These include cereal grains such as wheat and corn and protein meals such as soybean meal and meat and bone meal. It is important to know that ingredients usually supply more than a single nutrient as is the case of cereal grains and protein meals. There are exceptions of single nutrient ingredients however such as limestone,  single amino acids and single vitamins. Some regions of the world are known for being export suppliers of certain ingredients. This means they can easily produce more than they use. Some ingredients are supplied only in small doses in the feed as additives. These may cover trace requirements as in the case with vitamins, trace minerals or medicaments for growth promotion. Each type of poultry ie.  broilers, laying hens or breeders have their own distinct requirement for nutrients. For example, hens need more calcium than broilers to produce eggs shells and broilers need more protein and amino acids than breeders to produce meat. The lecture is designed to give a basic understanding of nutrition for commercial poultry that will be useful when selecting ingredients for formulation of specific feeds for specific classes of poultry.

Instructor Bio

Join us as Dr. Bob Swick from the Poultry Hub Australia discusses the value of Full Fat Soy in a balanced poultry feed ration

Professor Bob Swick is currently Poultry Research Coordinator at Poultry Hub Australia in Armidale. Over his 40-year career he has held positions at Monsanto Company, Novus International, American Soybean Association and University of New England.

Bob has supervised of 15 higher degree research students and has published over 300 technical papers, bulletins, reports, journal articles and patents.