Importance of Dietary Fiber in Poultry Nutrition

The scientific term of fiber is comprised of very diverse group of polymers having various physicochemical properties. The dietary fiber can contribute remarkably to the nutritive value of poultry diets both directly, as energy source, and indirectly, through its effects on digestive and metabolic processes going on in the poultry bird. In order to more accurately predict the nutritive effect of fiber from raw materials, a better characterization of fiber fractions, their degradation in the chicken, and their physiological effects are required. Traditional analytical methods to analyze fiber, as crude fiber (CF) and neutral detergent fiber (NDF), recover only a changeable fraction of fiber and are hence unfit for evaluation fiber fractions in raw materials and poultry diets. In poultry feeding the fiber gives less amount of energy because of its limited role in digestion however its slight increased proportion (up to 50 g/kg) can be productive for GIT development, thereby improving the digestion of nutrient and also posing good impact on growth and performance. A better understanding on the relation between specific fiber fractions and factors as GIT development, digesta retention time, and microbial colonization will help to develop nutritional strategies using specific fiber fractions to steer GIT health and function to enhance performance, especially under suboptimal environmental conditions.