ABSTRACT
Modern poultry production is highly efficient and the most ecologically sustainable way to produce high-quality meat protein for human consumption. Of all the terrestrially produced meats, broiler chickens have the lowest requirements for input resources and land (Herrero and Thornton, 2013). These are very important considerations for global food security. In most countries the market for poultry products is highly competitive, and so, optimal performance is a key consideration for growers; a small change in the efficiency of production can make the difference between a profitable and an unprofitable flock. Genetic improvement has been the major driver of the increase in productivity (Zuidhof et al., 2014), but improved nutrition has also been very effective in improving performance, with optimally balanced diets using a variety of agricultural products supplemented with vitamin, mineral and amino acid mixes (Havenstein et al., 2003). The addition of exogenous enzymes has also been widely adopted as a means to maximise the nutrition and energy extracted from feed (Kiarie et al., 2013).
