More than 1,600 scientists and poultry nutrition specialists from over 60 countries met in Salou/Vila-seca (Tarragona). The European Symposium on Poultry Nutrition (ESPN 2017) was held in early May and highlighted knowledge and discussions on the future of poultry nutrition and production. Attendees were urged to remember that chicken meat is consumed worldwide and is not affected by religious prohibitions.
Topics discussed during the symposium were extremely diverse. However, one notable topic was thermoregulation and heat-related stress, where two Israeli investigators found that hypoxic exposition (low oxygen levels) during days 17-19 of incubation result in better heat tolerance in chicks.
Another important topic, presented by American researchers (P.R. Ferket), involved the nutrition of embryos within the egg (perinatal nutrition) by feeding through the amniotic fluid (in ovo feeding) and feeding in early stages (prestarter) as a new nutritional strategy to be used within incubators to improve the productive results of chickens.
These are two examples of the interesting topics debated and presented at ESPN 2017. Speakers said poultry nutrition will continue to move towards more precise diet formulation and that attendees will need to provide consumers with all the necessary information on how the animals they eat are treated and fed.
