ISSUE FOCUS FEED & ADDITIVE MAGAZINE July 2025 63 MITIGATION STRATEGIES Most intervention strategies deal with heat stress through a wide range of measures, including environmental management, housing design, ventilation, sprinkling, and shading, amongst others.8 Understanding and controlling environmental conditions is always a part of heat stress management: it is crucial for ensuring animal welfare and achieving successful poultry production. Feed management and nutrition interventions are also recommended, together with environmental management, to reduce the effects of heat stress in poultry. They include feeding pelletized diets with increased energy, higher fat inclusions, reduction of total protein, supplemental amino acids, higher levels of vitamins and minerals, and adjusting the dietary electrolyte balance.1, 12, 18 Nutrition is crucial, and the use of the right diets aid in attenuating heat stress in birds. Phytomolecules: Powerful antioxidants It is practically impossible to avoid stress in commercial poultry production; hence it is common for animals to experience oxidative stress at times. Phytomolecules are natural antioxidants with anti-inflammatory and digestive properties8, 14, which have been shown to improve poultry performance, including during challenging periods. The antioxidant capacity of phytomolecules manifests itself in free radical scavenging, increased production of natural antioxidants, and the activation of transcription factors.2, 32, 33 As compounds that have low bioavailability, they can remain at high concentrations within the intestine, when provided at the appropriate dosage and through encapsulation technology. Research has found that phytomolecules can effectively reduce intestinal ROS and thus alleviate heat stress in poultry15, 18-20, specifically mitigating oxidative stress in the intestine. One heat stress study, for example, found that carvacrol elevates serum GSH-PX activity, compared to non-supplemented broilers.19 Other studies demonstrate that cinnamaldehyde also increases the activities of natural antioxidants in heat-stressed broilers.32, 35 A study by Prieto and Campo (2016) showed that dietary supplementation of capsaicin effectively alleviated heat stress, as indicated by a lower H/L ratio in supplemented animals. Silibinin, a flavonolignan present in silymarin (milk thistle extract), is another powerful antioxidant. In the gastrointestinal tract, it can come into direct contact with cells, activating transcription factors such as Nrf2, and thus helping to upregulate the antioxidant protection.34 Other phytomolecules, such as menthol and cineol, also aid animals under heat stress by simulating the sensory cold receptors of the oral mucosa. This gives them a cooling sensation and reduces heat stress behavior.18 References can be reached here. Photo: ew | nutrition
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