By Stephanie Schupska
University of
Georgia

Gene Pesti looks at an international impact when he stares down
at his new text, “Poultry Nutrition and Feeding.”

“The better educated producers are about poultry nutrition, the
more efficient they will be and the lower the cost,” he
said. “And lower costs mean more food for people around the
world.”

Only eight university departments teach poultry science in the
United States, said Pesti, a University of Georgia College of
Agricultural and Environmental Sciences professor of poultry
science and animal nutrition.

“There are many more poultry teaching facilities in the rest of
the world,” he said. “There’s actually a higher international
demand for the book.”

The demand for poultry is growing worldwide, and Georgia
depends on the growth of that demand. In 2004, broilers were
Georgia’s top farm commodity, accounting for 40.78 percent of
the state’s agriculture with a farm-gate value of just under
$4.2 billion.

“Poultry meat production passed beef production a few years
ago,” he said, “It’s just a huge industry here. There are so
many jobs for our graduates — good jobs. And the industry is
still growing.”

When included with eggs, which ranked fifth in the state with a
$439.3-million farm value, poultry accounts for more than half
of Georgia’s agriculture.

“But that’s just farm-gate receipts,” Pesti said. “Broilers and
eggs are both processed in Georgia, adding much more value to
the poultry industry in terms of number of jobs and impact on
the Georgia economy.”

The U.S. is a major source of poultry meat and eggs on the
world market, he said.

“Since feed cost is about 70 to 80 percent of the cost of live
production, nutrition is of fundamental importance to producing
poultry meat and eggs,” Pesti said.

Pesti wrote “Poultry Nutrition and Feeding” along with four
others:

* Remzi Bakalli, a University of Prishtina (Kosovo) professor
of poultry science who is also a UGA poultry science research
coordinator.

* John P. Drive, a Jackson Laboratory (Maine) postdoctoral
associate.

* Anel Atencio, a UGA postdoctoral associate.

* Elaine Foster, UGA poultry science laboratory director.

The “Poultry Nutrition and Feeding” text covers all chickens
and turkeys. Key concepts and learning objectives are covered
at the beginning of each chapter.

“It’s the only poultry text written specifically for students,
designed for learning and teaching,” Pesti said. “Chapters are
organized with anchoring concepts, learning objectives,
vocabulary and study and discussion questions. Those are not
found in other poultry and nutrition books.”

The book covers topics ranging from bioenergetics to basic
principles of carbohydrates, lipids and proteins.

“Several chapters focus on feed formulation techniques, with
examples using a widely available spreadsheet program,” Pesti
said. “The chapters emphasize the economic aspects of feed
formulation. The spreadsheets may be downloaded from our Web
site at http://www.pubs.caes.uga.edu/caespubs/ES-
pubs/WUFFDA.htm and are available in 12 different languages.”

(Stephanie Schupska is a news editor with the University of
Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.)