Incorporatingthe immune system in feeding strategies Effects of energy

摘要

The modern bird - raised under industrial conditions that increasingly call for a reduced use of antibiotics - is exposed to a large and increasing number of stressors over an ever shorter period of time. To handle these stressors and perform optimally the bird needs to rely on an efficiently functioning immune system. This system, like any other organ, needs to be supplied with a wide range of nutrients, increasing in quantity when its activity increases. Due to this accrued demand for nutrients over a shorter time period it is only logical that the supply of these nutrients at the right time and proportion is critical. Regardless of the level of immune challenge, the immune system needs to compete for nutrients with other physiological functions which - under the conditions of limited nutrient supply - has consequences for those functions and may lead to a reduction in health, well-being or performance.