Dr. Mojtaba Yegani: The importance of water as a nutrient

In this opportunity, aviNews International talked with Dr. Mojtaba Yegani about the importance of water as a nutrient. Dr. Yegani is the founder of The Poultry Knowledge Group LLC and works as an independent consultant supporting the global poultry industry. He has been contributing to the “poultry sector” over the past 20 years in various capacities (live production, research & innovation, technical sales/marketing, and leadership) in several countries/continents. From a nutritional point of view, people pay enough attention to nutrients such as amino acids, energy, vitamins, minerals, and others, but many nutritionists consider water a forgotten nutrient since it is essential for most physiological processes. However, if there is a lack of water or low quantity, the performance and health of animals can be impacted. According to that, Dr. Yegani explained that water is essential for animals for the same reason that this is important for humans. Since water is the most essential nutrient for poultry, they need water to maintain their activities, grow, and also for the production of eggs and meat. However, he said that the challenging part is that water, even though that is the most important nutrient for poultry, but it does not get much attention. People do not pay attention to the water quality on [register] poultry farms unless there is a problem, for example, when the performance is not good, disease challenges, increases in mortalities, and so on. Other discussed topics were:

• The ways by which birds obtain water
• Variation in the importance of water intake by poultry productions or growth phases
• Relationship between water intake and feed intake
• Effects of the feed formulations on the water intake of poultry
• Ideal quality parameters for drinking water and the methods to assess water quality
• The most common water quality problems

To watch the full interview, click here