Poultry Nutrition and Management

Before the twentieth century, poultry were mostly kept ongeneral farms, and foraged for much of their feed, eating insects,grain spilled by cattle and horses, and plants around the farm.This was often supplemented by grain, household scraps, calciumsupplements such as oystershel, and garden waste. As farming becamemore specialized, many farms kept flocks too large to be fed inthis way, and nutritionally complete poultry feed was developed.Modern feeds for poultry consists largely of grain, proteinsupplements such as soybean oil meal, mineral supplements, andvitamin supplements. Like all other animals, poultry require fivecomponents in their diet as a source of nutrients: energy, protein,minerals, vitamins and water. A nutrient shortage or imbalance inrelation to other nutrients will affect performance adversely.This book provides detailed scientific information on poultry feedsand feedstuffs for use in poultry and farm animal nutrition andmanagement. Farmers and future poultry owners find this textbookimmensely useful in their venture.