Variation in the digestive capacity of thebroiler chicken

A diet for broiler chickens that provides the nutrients essential for maintenance and growth of the flock as a whole may also have chemical and physical properties which are detrimental to the processes of ingestion, digestion, absorption, transport and utilization of nutrients. The digestive capacity of the chicken can be modelled according to interactions between feed– related and bird–related factors known to affect energy metabolism. The results of recent experimental work in Australia to examine these interactions provide evidence that gut morphology and bacterial colonisation of the gut are at least partially dependent on the sex of the chicken. Clearly, gut microflora have a highly significant impact on between–bird variation in the digestive capacity of the broiler chicken. This has very important commercial implications for the nutrition and management of broilers. Sex–related differences may be important in uptake and utilization of energy and other nutrients, and in responses to anti–nutritional factors, feed enzymes, prebiotics, probiotics, other feed additives, and vaccinations against gut pathogens.