Nutritional strategies to improve poultry performance: subclinical coccidiosis in broilers and AMPM feeding in layers

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SUMMARYMaintaining optimal gut health and delivering nutrients in the right amounts at the right time are essential for efficient nutrient utilisation, immune competence, and productivity in poultry. This review highlights the potential of targeted nutritional strategies, from specific dietary additives during enteric disease challenges to feeding approaches designed to enhance gut health, nutrient use, productivity, and welfare. Key interventions include dietary inclusion of whole wheat, xylo-oligosaccharides, high carbohydrate and high fat diets, short-chain fatty acids such as butyrate, amino acids like threonine with branched-chain amino acids, and trace minerals such as copper. These have shown potential to improve gut morphology, balance intestinal microbiota, reduce inflammation, and maintain epithelial barrier integrity under common disease challenges such as coccidiosis and necrotic enteritis. In addition to compositional strategies, this review emphasises the importance of aligning feeding regimens with bird’s physiological rhythms. The AM/PM or split feeding approach in laying hens, characterised by increased calcium (Ca) in the afternoon to meet eggshell formation and higher protein and energy in the morning to support yolk and albumen formation, demonstrates how nutrient timing can optimise utilisation. This strategy minimises excess Ca in the morning and surplus protein and energy in the afternoon, thereby reducing nutrient waste, improving digestibility, and supporting gut function and productivity. Although tested across different poultry types, these interventions target conserved biological systems, enabling cross-application between broilers and layers. For instance, strategies that strengthen gut resilience in broilers may enhance welfare and productivity in layers, while nutrient timing principles from layers may also benefit broilers, since applicability of precision feeding spans across all poultry types. Collectively, these nutritional innovations both compositional and temporal, represent promising avenues to reinforce gut health, improve resilience to disease, reduce dependence on antibiotics, and advance sustainable poultry production.

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