Gut Efficiency; the Key Ingredient in Pig and Poultry Production

Book excerpt: "Globally, the face of pig and poultry production is changing. The global emphasis on ethanol production has diverted significant proportions of grain away from animal production, thus increasing the cost of feed. This has forced the pig and poultry industries to scrutinise their production methods investigating alternative feed ingredients together with methods of improving productivity and efficiency in order to survive. This edited collection of papers is taken from a series of seminars that brought together some of the world's leading authorities in the field of pig and poultry nutrition and production. The fundamental theme is to address the interaction between nutrition and the gut ecosystem as a means to enhance health, performance and ultimately profitability. The importance of gut development and the intestinal ecosystem as a whole, and their impact on health and disease are covered in-depth. The roles of specific feed ingredients are also discussed. 'Gut efficiency: the key ingredient in pig and poultry production' is aimed at nutritionists and animal producers as well as students and researchers studying animal and applied biological sciences."