Impact of heat stress on poultry production

SUMMARYThe ever-increasing demand for meat and egg has placed the poultry sector as a priority farming avenue for both small-scale backyard farming by rural farmers and commercial enterprises. The elevated temperature over the years has been affecting poultry production systems through reduced growth and egg production all over the world. At a time when heat stress is perceived as a universal issue, and with climate change predicted to have a further significant impact on global temperature increase, the adverse impact on the poultry sector is expected to intensify further. An extensive review is made to discuss the impact of such heat stress on feed intake and feed conversion efficiency, poultry growth and production, egg production, physiology, reproduction, immunity and disease incidence. Advanced biotechnology tools can be used to identify suitable molecular markers and design worthy breeding programmes, which may lead to the development of heat tolerance strains in poultry. Further, suitable mitigation strategies have also been suggested for reducing the impact of such stress conditions on the poultry for minimising the economic loss of poultry growers.