Poultry & Livestock Review Africa
Genetics and Breeding

Balanced breeding: Sustainability for years to come

For decades, Aviagen has demonstrated commitment to promoting sustainability across the environmental, economic and social pillars through strategic decisions and actions.

Aviagen understands that sustainability is a continuous journey rather than a final destination. That is why we make it our daily mission to promote bird productivity, welfare, and with it sustainability for the industry, and have embraced balanced breeding, scientific knowledge and innovations to help us on this journey.

Our Delivering Improved Productivity and Sustainability for the Broiler Industry over the past 20 years animation highlights some of the environmental and economic benefits we provide to protect the planet for future generations.

Take a look at the video here

Innovative breeding – Driver of sustainability

A balanced breeding programme that makes use of modern innovations (many of which were adapted from the medical field) to assist in selection has led to great strides in biological efficiency. As an example from our animation, the modern broiler uses 0.8 kg less feed and 1.43 litres less water to reach 2.5 kgr.

Improved feed conversion efficiency leads to better nutrient absorption, which results in a 28% decrease in the excretion of nitrate and phosphate, thereby reducing harmful environmental pollutants and mitigating global warming potential. The animation also shows how enhanced performance and efficiency have resulted in reduced consumption of energy.

Since feed represents 60-70% of the cost of a poultry business, producers today have greater economic sustainability. The economic success of our customers is further promoted when we select robust birds with exceptional livability, meat yield, growth rate and robustness, along with resilience in a variety of climates and growing conditions. As we all know, these benefits combined add to the bottom line for poultry producers.

And finally, a lower requirement for feed means less land is needed to grow the feed. The conserved land can be used for food crops or conservation of natural habitats.

Advancing sustainability for a better tomorrow

Aviagen is committed to helping our customers meet the needs of an increasing population in a responsible way that minimises the impact on our natural environment. Due to our investment in research and development and ongoing genetic selection and field testing, gains in feed efficiency will continue, sustaining the businesses of our customers, their local societies and the planet for decades to come.

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