{"id":5837,"date":"2025-07-30T15:22:02","date_gmt":"2025-07-30T10:22:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vetnewsandviews.com\/en\/?p=5837"},"modified":"2025-07-30T21:04:53","modified_gmt":"2025-07-30T16:04:53","slug":"nutrigenomics-the-science-thats-transforming-poultry-nutrition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vetnewsandviews.com\/en\/nutrigenomics-the-science-thats-transforming-poultry-nutrition\/","title":{"rendered":"Nutrigenomics: The Science That\u2019s Transforming Poultry Nutrition"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nutrigenomics: The Science That\u2019s Transforming Poultry<\/h2>\n

Written by Dr. Laiba Idrees<\/p>\n

Lecturer \u2013 Animal Sciences
College of Agriculture, University of Sargodha<\/p>\n

After years of research, consultation, and public outreach, the U.S. Department of Agriculture\u2019s Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA-FSIS<\/a>) has made the official withdrawal of its proposed regulation to manage Salmonella contamination in raw poultry.<\/p>\n

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As the world is hustling to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations i.e. no poverty, zero hunger, good health and well-being, high-quality education, climate action, and ecosystem management\u2014the poultry industry must make major progress. The industry, society, and the planet will all get benefit from this in the future. As for farmers in Pakistan, one of the main sources of income is the poultry sector. Animal feed accounts for about 60\u201370% of all inputs used in production. Therefore, the economics of the poultry industry are heavily reliant on how well the birds use their feed.<\/p>\n

Nutritionists and microbiologists have been working to reduce losses and understand the complicated microbial ecosystem of gut by using molecular techniques which are helpful to solve unexplained nutrition-related mysteries at genetic level. Along this nutritional diseases and metabolic disorders can be prevented or clinically managed by the help of nutrigenomics.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tWhat is Nutrigenomics?
\n\t\t<\/h2>\n

One of the fields of study that is now expanding the fastest is nutrigenomics. Experts in the field use the term “nutrigenomics” to refer to the ways in which dietary factors affect an individual’s genetic expression. Nutrigenomics explores how dietary components can affect gene expression through epigenetic mechanism via DNA methylation, Histone modification and Non-coding RNA.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In DNA methylation, dietary methyl groups provided by nutrients like folate and choline can be used to methylate DNA effecting gene expression. Likely, another mechanism is histone modification in which histone acetylation or methylation can also affect gene expression. Changes in gene expression can also be mediated by non-coding RNA molecules. The poultry industry uses nutrigenomics to better understand how the food given to birds affects their genes and in this way farmers can improve how well chickens use their feed, boost their immune system, and help them fight diseases-so they don\u2019t need as many antibiotics. It also helps to correlate nutrition and genetics in breeding programs.<\/p>\n

For example, adding omega-3 fatty acids to broiler feed can turn on certain genes that reduce inflammation in the gut, making the birds healthier and grow better. In this process, omega-3 fatty acids influence DNA expression<\/strong> by interacting with transcription factors<\/strong> (like NF-\u03baB and PPARs), which turn specific genes on or off.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n