Vitamin Update and Sustainability

This presentation addressed the status of research on vitamin nutrition in poultry species and current recommended levels. The economic, environmental, and socio-political aspects of sustainability are addressed. Most of the information presented is described in detail in the book Optimum Vitamin Nutrition for More Sustainable Poultry Farming (Oviedo-Rondon et al., 2023). However, this presentation also used more recent publications and news of the latest events related to scientific recommendations and the worldwide vitamin market. The objective is to provide a brief overview of scientific findings to aid nutritionists in the decision-making process when selecting optimum levels for poultry nutrition. The challenges in determining optimum vitamin levels were discussed, and the metabolic nutritional assessment of vitamins was emphasized. Vitamin interactions with other nutrients must be taken into consideration when determining vitamin levels to use or interpreting data from vitamin evaluations. Multiple examples of poultry responses to vitamin levels were presented to illustrate the reasoning for optimum vitamin level selection and the multiple interactions with other nutrients on the responses observed. The sustainability aspects of vitamin levels and supply were addressed.