Seven is the magic number

摘要

The first seven days are extremely important in the life of a broiler chick or turkey poult. Research indicates that formulation of pre-starter programmes containing highly digestible ingredients improves gastrointestinal development, immune function,and feed conversion efficiency. Additionally, overall flock profitability increases considerably. The number seven is often seen as "lucky seven". There may not be a more appropriate application of this term than in the description of the first week ofa young bird's life. It is stated "an animal never gets over a good or a bad start", and this is increasingly important in the life of today's genetically advanced broiler chick or turkey poult. Genetic advancements have these birds reaching market weight quicker every year. With this increase in growth rate comes an increased demand on nutrients to fuel that growth. This is even more critically important during the first week of life due to the immaturity of the gastrointestinal tract and portal drainviscera as a whole. New technologies are being developed and evaluated to fuel this increased nutrient demand, in essence allowing nutrition to keep pace with genetics. One new technology that is proving to meet the escalating nutritional demands of theyoung chick is a yeast derived functional protein that, when formulated into young chick diets, is resulting in improved lifetime performance and profitability.