The use of dietary nucleotides in poultry nutrition

2023-08-30 11:49:11

Prof. Dr. / Mohamed Ahmed Toni

Professor of nutrition and Clinical Nutrition

Faculty of Veterinary Medicine-Cairo University

Recently, there is an increasing interest in the use of yeast-derived nucleotides for feeding poultry, fish and livestock, mainly due to the growing research showing the health properties and benefits to the health of the digestive system, absorption, metabolism and production when using these compounds as feed additives.

Initially, scientific research was interested in the application of these additives as dietary supplements for children and the elderly, and many scientific studies and researches are currently interested in studying the importance of these compounds and their direct impact on health, disease resistance and maximizing the production of poultry, fish and various farm animals.

Although the amount of scientific information and applied results on the importance of using these feed additives and the extent of their impact on the production efficiency of poultry is still significantly limited, we believe that they may be one of the most important additives that will be used in the near future to reduce the use of antibiotics and medicines in general and to maximize the benefit of feed, which may have a great impact on public health, herd immunity, disease resistance and maximizing production.

What are food nucleotides, what is their mode of action and how should they be applied and incorporated into poultry feed so as to increase performance and reduce the use of antibiotics .. These are the questions that this article will address.

What are nucleotides

Nucleotides are the building blocks of nucleic acids, i.e. the basic building blocks of DNA, DNA and RNA, and are the genetic currency of all living cells.

Where are the nucleotides

Nucleotides can be found in almost all types of living tissues, and due to their binding and presence in nucleic acids, they are involved in almost all metabolic processes from protein synthesis and cell division to energy production and metabolism, immune performance and others.

Nucleotides participate in this wide range of processes not only by being required for the synthesis of DNA, RNA and DNA, but also by helping to emit signals, bind to all living cells and act as cofactors for various body enzymes and metabolism.

Nucleotides are the non-protein nitrogen fraction in all living cells and yeast cells and yeast derivatives such as live yeasts and yeast extracts are usually the best sources of nucleotides.

How to use nucleotides as feed additives and their economic importance

Although poultry can synthesize nucleotides inside their body, but apparently after the introduction of fast-growing breeds, high production pressures and other effects of diseases and other, especially at young ages, flocks are negatively affected to produce these important vital compounds. It is currently believed that the ability to produce nucleotides, especially in young animals and poultry, may not be sufficient to meet demand and maximize growth, immunity and disease resistance. For this reason, nucleotides have been described as conditionally necessary, they will be most useful in periods of stress, such as during disease and health challenges, high Ward densities, periods of rapid growth and replacement or removal of antibiotics.

Because predicting when birds will become restless is very difficult, a wise feeding strategy is to ensure a constant supply of food nucleotides during the production stages .

So far, there are no dietary guidelines or specific quantities for the use of nucleotides at different ages or feeds for poultry, and they are now under scientific studies all over the world to reach the optimal uses of these compounds.

Of course, feeding costs and production efficiency ultimately lead to decisions to include such additives for Various Feeds, so the inclusion of nucleotides should be at least "economical" within the particular feeding program being evaluated.

In conclusion, dear reader, I remind you that scientific research, meetings and conferences around the world have not reached a consensus on the mode of action of food nucleotides, and the rate of their addition to various poultry feeds, however, the potential of these compounds to improve performance and immunity and avoid diseases and stress is considered promising. The data of scientific studies show the ability of food nucleotides to reduce feeding costs while acting at the same time as a potential alternative to antibiotics.looking to the future, they may be the most important feed additives that improve the health of herds, maximize production and resistance to various diseases.