What are the factors that are affecting the gut health of your ducks?
Duck production and the demand for quality duck meat and eggs has risen steadily across the globe in recent years, in conjunction with improvements in housing, nutrition and health strategies. Continuing to ensure good gut health in ducks is critical for improving growth rates, reducing common health issues and optimizing carcass quality and egg production.
Global Nutrition Gut Check Program for ducks is designed to identify key issues that could be impacting the health and performance of your investment, while working alongside our team of technical professionals to provide quality solutions that mediate the key inhibitors of good gut health of your flock.
Auto-oxidation is an irreversible process by which molecular oxygen combines with nutrients in an ingredient or finished diet creating rancidity and decreasing feed quality. Aside from the reduction in feed palatability and quality, oxidation also has major impacts on gut and liver health through the production of toxic compounds.
Mold and yeast
Mold and yeast are found in almost all feed and raw materials and depending on the climate they can act rapidly to reduce the nutritive value of the feed, produce harmful mycotoxins and disrupt beneficial bacteria in the intestine, impacting the performance of poultry.
Mycotoxins are toxic secondary metabolites that are produced by mold. Mycotoxins reduce the gut health of poultry by damaging and inflaming the intestinal tract and other key organs. Mycotoxin challenge often results in reductions in immunity, hatchability, production rate and growth performance.
There are many infectious pathogens, particularly E. coli, Salmonella and Clostridium that are directly related to gut health conditions and diseases, and often result in wet litter, drops in performance and increased mortality.
Necrotic enteritis is one of the most critical disease for the poultry industry globally. The disease is usually caused by an imbalance of the gut microbiota, particularly Clostridium perfringens and the symptoms are accelerated by poor gut health.
GUT STABILITY AND FUNCTION
Poor epithelial development
Underdevelopment of the intestinal tract is often a result of stress or poor nutrition. If villi growth is compromised and the immune system underdeveloped, producers will see significant reductions in performance and slow growth rates.
Intestinal inflammation can occur from infection, poor nutrition or environmental stress and impairs the bird’s ability to absorb nutrients and achieve its genetic potential. The lining of the intestine can also become compromised and cause conditions such as leaky gut.
ENVIRONMENT & WELFARE
Optimal water quality is of the highest importance for the health, welfare and production of poultry. Hard water and bacterial contamination can greatly reduce the performance of poultry and increase water excretion, causing litter problems and disease.
Control of litter is a complex and challenging task and is impacted upon by environmental, husbandry, engineering and bird health characteristics. Litter quality can be reduced by poor gut health and digestion and is also a breeding ground for bacteria that can re-enter the digestive system.