Towards sustainable chicken-meat production

Abstract

Sustainable chicken-meat production is a crucial objective, the genesis of which is the increasing demand generated by consumers both in Australia and globally, primarily because of the relative affordability of chicken-meat. Chicken-meat is preferred by Australian consumers, with an annual per capita consumption of 46.9 kg which clearly exceeds that of pork (27.7 kg), beef (19.1 kg) and lamb (5.5 kg). The volume of chicken-meat produced locally has increased by 94% (1.295 versus 0.668 million tonnes) from 2001/02 to 2021/2022, but despite these increases, Australian chicken-meat production will need to increase by about a further 60% between 2020 and 2050 to satisfy local demand. Therefore, sustainable chicken-meat production is an imperative objective. Accordingly, this Thesis investigates five elements that are promoting or have the potential to promote sustainable chicken-meat production. The five elements include (i) exogenous phytate-degrading enzymes, (ii) grain sorghum, (iii) whole grain feeding, (iv) starch and protein digestive dynamics and (v) reduced-crude protein (CP) diets. All five elements are important; nevertheless, the successful development of reduced-CP broiler diets probably is most powerful strategy to promote sustainable chicken-meat production. In reduced-CP broiler diets, soybean meal is partially replaced by synthetic or crystalline amino acids and have the potential to halve the local chicken-meat industry’s dependence on imported, (expensive) soybean meal. In addition, the advantages of reduced-CP broiler extend to less environmental pollution via attenuated nitrogen and ammonia emissions, to bird welfare via improved litter quality with lower incidences of foot-pad lesions, and to flock health which is advantaged by diminished flows of undigested protein into the hind-gut to fuel the proliferation of potential pathogens. However, the successful development of reduced-CP, wheat-based broiler diets is a real challenge.