KEKULEU: Designing an innovative oil-in-water emulsion for tailored control of nutrient digestion in the gastrointestinal tract of poultry

Meat production is commonly linked with a negative environmental impact such as the emission of greenhouse gasses, water and soil pollution, ... One possible strategy to reduce this impact is by decreasing the feed conversion ratio, of for example broiler feed, by improving the nutrient digestibility. This can be achieved by applying feed structural design for a tailored and improved digestion in broilers. Since lipids are an important aspect of the feed to increase the caloric intake, the focus of this study will be on designing the interface of oil-in-water emulsions. The effect of the feed structural design on digestion will first extensively be evaluated in vitro and will then be validated by in vivo performance and nutrient digestibility trials.