Ideal Protein Concept in broiler chicken nutrition: Advances in essential amino acid profiling, modeling approaches, and sustainable feed formulation

A crucial precondition for creating nutritionally optimal diets for fast-growing animals, especially broiler chickens, is the precise determination of amino acid requirements. An imbalance of amino acids in the diet impairs the efficiency of protein deposition and increases nitrogen excretion, which raises nitrogen emissions in the environment. Poultry have dynamic amino acid requirements that are influenced by environmental factors, dietary composition, sex, and genetic potential. Logistically and financially, it is not feasible to systematically evaluate the entire range of these interacting parameters using traditional dose-response experiments. The ideal protein notion has become a strong and comprehensive foundation for predicting amino acid requirements in this setting. By defining the necessary amounts of essential amino acids as fixed ratios relative to a reference amino acid, this method allows for accurate dietary amino acid profile modification. Since lysine plays a crucial part in muscle protein accretion and its requirement is well-defined throughout growth phases and has been extensively validated by experiments, it is frequently used as the reference amino acid. To ensure maximum protein utilization and minimize nitrogen losses, this paper critically analyzes the ideal protein concept, paying particular attention to amino acid profiling in broiler chickens.