For decades, nutrition for poultry feed has been treated as a question of addition: add more protein, add more energy, add another vitamin premix, add another enzyme to break down a harder-to-digest ingredient. The underlying assumption is simple – if the formulation on paper is correct, the bird will perform. But formulation sheets do not account for one critical variable: how much of that carefully balanced feed actually reaches the bird’s tissues, and how much becomes fuel for the pathogenic bacteria living in its gut.

This is the blind spot in conventional nutrition thinking. Research on poultry gastrointestinal health shows that when digestion is incomplete, undigested protein and amino acids flow into the lower gut, where they are fermented into toxic metabolites such as ammonia, indoles, and phenols. This process also raises cecal pH, creating exactly the kind of environment in which pathogenic bacteria such as Clostridium perfringens thrive. In other words, an underperforming gut does not just waste nutrition, it actively feeds the very organisms working against the bird’s growth and immunity.

At ABTL Enzymes, we believe the next phase of nutrition for poultry feed is not about adding more to the trough. It is about deciding who gets to use what is already there: the bird, or the bacteria competing against it.

The Real Problem: Nutrients Don’t Just Feed the Bird

Every gram of unassimilated nutrient that reaches the distal gut is a gram available to opportunistic and pathogenic microflora. Scientific reviews on poultry gut microbiota confirm that nutrient competition between the host and resident bacteria is a defining feature of gut ecology, and that reducing digesta viscosity and improving nutrient breakdown earlier in digestion directly limits the substrate reaching the hindgut, thereby denying pathogens the nutritional support they need to multiply.

This has real performance consequences. A damaged or nutrient-starved gut wall cannot absorb nutrients efficiently even when the feed formulation is correct, and the resulting cellular damage allows toxins and microorganisms to leak across the gut barrier in what is commonly described as “leaky gut,” directly undermining feed conversion ratio (FCR) and overall flock health. Genetic and compositional studies on feed-efficiency-modifying agents have documented FCR improvements in the range of 1 to 30 percent in challenged flocks when pathogenic bacterial load in the gastrointestinal tract is reduced, underlining how tightly pathogen control and feed efficiency are linked.

This is precisely why the industry’s post-antibiotic growth promoter (AGP) era has forced a rethink. Antibiotics historically worked, in part, by suppressing competing gut microflora so the bird faced less competition for nutrients. Without that suppression, nutrition strategy has to do the job differently: not by adding antibiotics, but by managing where digested nutrients actually go.

What “Nutrient Diversion” Actually Means

Nutrient diversion is the principle of improving digestive efficiency early enough in the gut that there is simply less undigested material left over for pathogens to use as fuel. Instead of relying on antimicrobial suppression, it changes the competitive balance in the gut by starving harmful bacteria of substrate while favouring the conditions beneficial bacteria need to thrive.

A few mechanisms drive this:

• Earlier, more complete nutrient breakdown. When feed components are broken down efficiently in the upper gut, less undigested protein, starch, and non-starch polysaccharide material survives to reach the cecum, where pathogenic fermentation typically occurs.
• Favourable anaerobic conditions for beneficial bacteria. Lowering the substrate available to opportunistic microflora does not just suppress harmful bacteria, it shifts gut conditions toward those favoured by beneficial, fermentative bacteria, supporting a more balanced microbial population overall.

This is a meaningfully different strategy from simply adding more nutrition to the feed. It treats the gut as a competitive ecosystem, not a passive pipe, and it asks a sharper question: are we feeding the bird, or are we feeding the problem?

How ABTL Approaches Nutrient Diversion: Gallinase

We at ABTL Enzymes developed Gallinase specifically to address this gap in conventional nutrition for poultry feed strategy. Gallinase is a feed supplement built around three synergistic components, Lysozyme, Glucose Oxidase, and Sodium Taurocholate, designed to work on the gut environment itself rather than simply adding another nutrient source.

The mechanism follows the nutrient diversion logic directly. Gallinase improves nutrient digestion, which significantly lowers the substrate reaching the distal gut. This starves opportunistic and pathogenic microflora of the fuel they depend on, while simultaneously promoting beneficial bacteria by creating favourable anaerobic conditions. At the same time, Gallinase increases pathogen vulnerability by damaging the membranes of both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria, making them more susceptible to oxidative stress from the hydrogen peroxide the formulation produces.

The combined effect is what we call integrated gut function: by reducing pathogen burden and restricting the nutrients available to them, Gallinase helps reduce intestinal inflammation, supports a more resilient epithelial barrier, and strengthens local immune response, addressing the leaky gut problem at its source rather than after the fact.

We see this as the direction nutrition for poultry feed needs to take industry-wide. Rather than depending on external suppression through antibiotics, our approach with Gallinase lets the bird’s own gut ecosystem do the competitive work, naturally favouring the bird over the bacteria competing against it.

Nutrient Addition vs. Nutrient Diversion: A Quick Comparison

Why This Matters for Indian and South-East Asian Poultry Operations

For broiler and layer operations across India, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Nepal, Oman, and Bangladesh, where ABTL has built its presence since 2007, the pressure to maintain performance without antibiotic growth promoters is not theoretical, it is the operating reality. Nutrition for poultry feed programmes that only focus on formulation inputs, without addressing what happens to those nutrients once they enter a live, competitive gut ecosystem, will continue to underperform regardless of how well the feed sheet is balanced.

We built Gallinase as a direct, residue-free response to this exact problem, dosed at 100 g/mt of feed for broilers and 150 to 200 g/mt for layers and breeders, to give nutritionists a tool that works with the bird’s biology rather than around it.

FAQs

What is nutrient diversion in poultry nutrition?
Nutrient diversion refers to improving digestion early in the gut so that less undigested nutrient material reaches the lower intestine, where it would otherwise feed pathogenic bacteria. It shifts the competitive balance in the gut toward the bird and beneficial microflora, rather than toward harmful organisms.

How is nutrient diversion different from simply adding more nutrients to poultry feed?
Adding more nutrients assumes the bird will absorb what is formulated. Nutrient diversion addresses what actually happens to nutrients inside a living, microbially active gut, focusing on reducing the substrate available to pathogens rather than increasing total feed inputs.

How does Gallinase support nutrient diversion?
Gallinase improves nutrient digestion so that less unassimilated material reaches the distal gut, starving opportunistic and pathogenic bacteria while creating favourable anaerobic conditions for beneficial microflora, alongside its direct antimicrobial action via Lysozyme, Glucose Oxidase, and Sodium Taurocholate.

Is this approach relevant after the AGP ban?
Yes. With antibiotic growth promoters being phased out across multiple markets, nutrient diversion strategies like Gallinase offer a residue-free, non-resistance-building way to manage gut pathogen load and protect feed conversion ratio.

What is the recommended dosage for Gallinase?
Gallinase is dosed at 100 g/mt of feed for broilers, 150 to 200 g/mt for layers, and 200 g/mt for breeders, or as advised by a qualified nutritionist or veterinarian.