LAUSR

Abstract The animal’s diet is a crucial factor, as poultry feed formulations influences greatly their development, well-being and final products quality, i.e., meat and eggs. Therefore, the search for feed additives that provide concomitantly better performances, low-cost usage, guarantying the animal well-being and products safety, became a priority to the poultry industry. Although in an early stage, research has been focused on developing the optimal cost-efficient feed formulations, taking into account the chicken’s physiology and function of the gastrointestinal tract and intestinal microbiota. This review discusses a number of concepts and novel approaches towards the optimization of poultry’s feed formulations, by critically encompassing the animal’s growth and performance. Additionally, it highlights the in vitro gastrointestinal models capabilities as a potential solution to test highly nutritive, well-balanced and efficient feed formulations within a circular economy framework.