Selection for feed efficiency as a tool to improve sustainability of poultry production

Poultry production will have to be increased in the future to meet the demands of the growing human population. This will increase the pressure on land use to produce cereals and proteins used in poultry diets and also the environmental pressure due to the increase of manure produced by these birds. Selecting birds able to digest more varied and less optimal diets could be a way to minimize these negative impacts of poultry production. Selection for digestive efficiency using a diet difficult to digest has been shown to be efficient to increase the proportion of poor quality feedstuffs in the diet. In this study, to prevent negative effects that could occur on non-selected traits, we evaluate the impact of this selection on a wide range of traits related to the economic, social and environmental pillars of sustainability. This was achieved on 846 chickens issued from selection for high (D+) or low (D-) digestive efficiency fed either a classical corn+soybean diet or an alternative wheat+sunflower meal diet. Multifactorial correspondence analyses were realized on each pillar of sustainability. For the economic pillar, we recorded growth, feed consumption, feed efficiency, digestibility of phosphorus, anatomy of the digestive tract, and meat quality. For the environmental pillar, we recorded quantity of litter and temperature, humidity, nitrogen, and ammonia and phosphorus content of the litter. For the social pillar, we measured normal animal behavior, presence of dermatitis, bone yield and mineralization and susceptibility to coccidiosis and to colibacillosis. Our results showed that 1) the D+ birds have a positive impact on economic and environmental traits, with better efficiency, lower consumption, and less manure production; 2) the two lines were not different on behavior and health traits, apart from a better bone yield in D+ line and 3) the D- birds were more sensitive to the diet than D+ birds.