Feeding saponins and polyphenols made from plant products, also known as phytogenics, to pullets and layer hens has no negative effect on performance or egg quality, revealed a validation study conducted at North Carolina State University (NCSU). Recent research suggests that phytogenic feed additives can help improve poultry gut health, protecting against a variety of diseases. In particular, the combination of these saponins and polyphenols made from Quillaja saponaria and Yucca schidigera biomass are beneficial against coccidiosis and necrotic enteritis infections.

The results revealed that birds in the pullet phase given the phytogenic feed additive consumed less feed and had equal body weights compared to the control group. “We don’t know why because we didn’t look at intestinal histology, but we think it’s because the intestine is better able to absorb the nutrients they need,” explained Dimitri Malheiros at the 2024 International Poultry Scientific Forum (IPSF).

In addition, there were no statistical differences observed in performance or egg size, grade or quality for the laying hens compared to the control group. Malheiros noted that the hens in this study were unchallenged, meaning that the birds were not purposefully exposed to coccidiosis or any other diseases. “I would really like to see this trial done at scale with a challenge imposed,” he added.

With SetCare, the new setter developed by HatchTech Incubation Technology, eggs are incubated for 24 days instead of the traditional 21 days. This results in 3% lower embryo mortality, which automatically means an improved hatching performance. The chicks that hatch will demonstrate an overall improved chick quality.
SetCare builds on HatchTech’s years of research into the beginning of the incubation period, in which embryo mortality is relatively high. This has long been accepted as an inevitable part of incubation, but a more in-depth research and a closer look at the natural incubation process, reveals that the industry-standard of a 21-day incubation process is sub-optimal. A 24-day incubation process with a more gradual increase in egg temperature is needed to help embryo cells to survive and to achieve the best hatch result.
“SetCare suits our promise to deliver superior chick quality” states Joost Ter Heerdt, Commercial Director of HatchTech Group. “SetCare reduces embryo mortality, resulting in an increase of hatchability by at least 3%. Also, overall the number of 1st grade chicks increases, as do average chick length and quality, and improved FCR while a smaller hatching window ensures higher uniformity.”
The unique precision-control set-up of SetCare incubation environment enables a consistent extremely slow warming process (+0,1 °C per hour). Combined with carefully controlled humidity and CO2 levels, this provides a uniform and optimal incubation environment both for layer and broiler eggs.

When broiler chickens are busy fighting the parasitic infection coccidiosis, they can’t absorb nutrients efficiently or put energy toward growth. In addition to traditional medicine, new research from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign suggests diet changes might help.

In the experiment, described in a study published in the journal Poultry Science, the university research team the research team induced coccidiosis, and then altered the diet to understand the roles of various ingredients. The team adjusted the starch, oil, and amino acid content of the classic broiler diet and monitored body weight gain and feed conversion ratio.

“If you visualize a triangle, the three points represent diets with the highest starch, oil, and amino acid content,” doctoral student Julianna Jespersen explained. “We used varying proportions of those three ingredients to mix 10 experimental diets, one being a control diet with an equal proportion of each ingredient.”

The optimal diet mix — the diet leading to the highest body weight gain in coccidiosis-challenged birds — consisted of 35.8% starch, 8.9% oil, and 101.3% of recommended amino acids relative to the control diet.

The researchers acknowledge 9% oil inclusion is well above practical levels for the industry. “That level of oil is going to be hard for producers to fathom. But previous research from our lab has shown this parasite reduces lipid absorption in the gastrointestinal tract, so the birds can’t get as much energy or lipid components out of the diet,” said senior study author Ryan Dilger. The researchers acknowledge 9% oil inclusion is well above practical levels for the industry. Producers might look at that and laugh, but the bird is telling us why it should be that high for optimizing outcomes in disease-challenged birds.”

Jespersen says although it may not be feasible to include oil at 9%, the results show that increasing oil to any level above the usual 1% should be beneficial.

Chicken marketers need to start planning how to future-proof communications with the unique consumer expectations and needs of Generation Z.

“Our future consumer is really forging a new food future. What I mean by that is that they’re doing things differently from their parents in terms of food,” Michele Murray, executive vice president, Food Agriculture and Ingredient Practice, Ketchum, said. For example, 68% of Generation Z say they are cooking differently than their parents, with only 20% indicating that the way they ate as kids impacts the way they eat now. “We’re seeing a major shift in how this particular target audience, Generation Z is choosing their food, making purchasing decisions and their general attitude about food,” she added.

One of the biggest differentiators between Generation Z, born between 1997 and 2012, and previous generations is that there is a large part of this demographic that considers themselves food evangelists. This is likely due to their lifelong exposure to social media and the internet. “When we first identified this as a consumer segment back more than 10 years ago, 22% of the overall population fit into that food evangelist category,” Murray explained. “But for Generation Z, we found that over half describe themselves as food evangelists.” In other words, this demographic is highly interested in understanding more about food and sharing that food story with the people around them.

Generation Z is also highly value-driven when it comes to the food they purchase in terms of the environment. They also believe their food choices say something about them – from sustainability to body issues and even when it comes to certain political issues. They feel the weight of the world to make certain decisions about food and are judged by society. These are certainly aspects that cannot be ignored in the market communication of chicken meat towards a consumer segment that will soon represent a significant purchasing power.