Team leaders: Michel J. Duclos and Agnès Narcy

General objectives:

Feed represents a major lever for animals to express their potential, and for livestock systems to improve their sustainability. The major issues are minimising the use of feed inputs, while using diverse feedstuffs, and reducing excretion (with an emphasis on phosphorus and nitrogen) and environmental impacts such as climate change. Within this context, the team works to acquire and integrate knowledge about nutrient use at the animal and livestock levels, thus contributing to the sustainability of poultry production systems.

Topics:

	The nutritional value of feedstuffs : Our work aims at identifying new predictors of the nutritional value of feedstuffs for poultry and swine nutrition. This involves a better understanding of the interactions between feed matrix components, their impact on digestive and metabolic processes, and a global, multi-criterion evaluation of animal responses to their diet.
	Exploring the potential of animals to adapt to feed: The aim is to acquire a better knowledge of the mechanisms controlling nutrient utilization efficiency by using different genetic models and to propose strategies for early nutrition.
	Assessment of feeding systems for sustainable livestock systems: The team is helping to define more sustainable feeding strategies (reduction of dietary protein content, inclusion of local protein sources), based on the development of multi-criteria approaches and tools for assessing the sustainability of poultry production systems.

On-going projects:

- Project F2E PINHS, 2020-2023 : Multicriterion assessment of the benefits of using black soldier fly larvae to feed fast-growing broilers
- Project Centre Val de Loire Region VOLAILLES, 2018-2021 :  Questioning the required conditions for the reinforcement (“Label Rouge”, Protected Geographical Indications) or the emergence and development (ancient breeds) of organized poultry supply chains with a high heritage dimension.
- Project Centre Val de Loire Region INTEGRITY, 2017-2021: Integrity of gut barrier and opportunistic infections.
- Project CASDAR CHICK TIP, 2018-2021: Combining high-throughput phenotyping and integrated methods for data analysis, to revisit young chick quality and propose a share tool for genetic selection, hatching and farming stakeholders.
- Project Conseil Régional Pays de Loire DY+, 2016-2020: Developing pre-treatment technologies for the pre-treatment of feedstuffs to optimize the digestive use of vegetal proteins.
- Project BPI PROLEVAL, 2015-2020: Valorization of local production of oil protein crops to replace imported soybean meal in animal feeds.
- Project CASDAR BOUQET, 2017-2020: Developing a method to assess the multifunctionality of outdoor runs in free-range poultry systems.
- Partnership projects CARNOT F2E with private companies

Past Projects :

- Project CASDAR VOCALIM, 2016-2019: Multi-performance of poultry production systems using local feedstuffs.
- Project H2020 UE - FEED-A-GENE, 2015-2020: Adapting the feed, the animal and the feeding techniques to improve the efficiency and sustainability of monogastric livestock production systems.

Major publications:

De Sanna Cardoso, D., Narcy, A., Durosoy, S., Bordes, C., Chevalier, Y. (2020) Dissolution kinetics of zinc oxide and its relationship with physicochemical characteristics. Powder Technology. DOI: 10.1016/j.powtec.2020.10.049.

Lautrou, M., Pomar, C., Dourmad, J-Y., Narcy, A., Schmidely, P., Létourneau-Montminy, M-P. (2020) Phosphorus and calcium requirements for bone mineralisation of growing pigs predicted by mechanistic modelling. Animal. DOI: 10.1017/S1751731120001627.

Valable, A.S., Létourneau-Montminy, M-P., Klein, S., Lardic, L., Lecompte F., Metayer-Coustard, S., Même, N., Page, G., Duclos, M.J., Narcy, A. (2020) Early life conditioning strategies to reduce dietary phosphorus in broilers; underlying mechanisms. Journal of Nutritional Science. 10.1017/jns.2020.17.

Bournazel, M., Duclos, M.J., Lecompte, F., Guillou, D., Peyronnet, C., Quinsac, A., Même, N., Narcy, A. (2020). Effects of dietary electrolyte balance and calcium supply on mineral and acid-base status of piglets fed a diversified diet. Journal of Nutritional Science, in press.

Gloux, A., Le Roy, N., Ezagal, J., Même, N ., Hennequet-Antier, C., Piketty, M.-L., Prié, D., Benzoni, G. Gautron, J., Nys, Y., Narcy, A., Duclos, M.J. (2020) Possible roles of parathyroid hormone, 1,25(OH)2D3 and fibroblast growth factor 23 on genes controlling calcium metabolism across different tissues of the laying hen. Domestic Animal Endocrinology, 72 : 106407. DOI: 10.1016/j.domaniend.2019.106407

Méda, B., Travel, A., Guyot, Y., Henri, J., Royer, E., Baéza-Campone, E., Jondreville, C. (2020). A PBPK model to study the transfer of α-hexabromocyclododecane (α-HBCDD) to tissues of fast- and slow-growing broilers. Food Additives & Contaminants: Part A, 37(2): 316-331. DOI: 10.1080/19440049.2019.1681596

Dumont, B., Ryschaway, J., Duru, M., Benoit, M., Chatellier, V., Delaby, L., Donnars, C., Dupraz, P., Lemauviel-Lavenant, S., Méda, B., Vollet, D., Sabatier, R. (2019). Review: Associations among goods, impacts and ecosystem services provided by livestock farming. Animal, 13(8), 1773-1784. DOI: 10.1017/S1751731118002586

Gloux, A., Le Roy, N., Brionne, A., Bonin, E., Juanchich, A., Benzoni, G., Piketty M.-L., Prié, D., Nys, Y., Gautron, J., Narcy, A., Duclos, M.J. (2019) Candidate genes of the transcellular and paracellular calcium absorption pathways in the small intestine of laying hens. Poultry Science, 98(11), 6005-6018. DOI: 10.3382/ps/pez407

Gloux, A., Duclos M.J., Brionne A., Bourin M., Nys, Y., Réhaut-Godbert S. (2019). Integrative analysis of transcriptomic data related to the liver of laying hens: from physiological basics to newly identified functions. BMC Genomics, 20(1): 821. DOI: 10.1186/s12864-019-6185-0

Recoules, E., Lessire, M., Labas, V., Duclos, M.J., Combes-Soia, L., Lardic, L., Peyronnet, C., Quinsac, A., Narcy A., Réhault-Godbert S. (2019) Digestion dynamics in broilers fed rapeseed meal. Scientific reports, 9(1): 3052. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-38725-1

Bournazel, M., Lessire, M., Klein, S., Même, N., Peyronnet, C., Quinsac, A., Duclos, M.J., Narcy, A. (2018). Phytase supplementation in diets rich in fiber from rapeseed enhances phosphorus and calcium digestibility but not retention in broiler chickens. Poultry Science, 97(5), 1627-1640. DOI: 10.3382/ps/pex446

Garcia-Launay F., Dusart L., Espagnol S., Laisse-Redoux S., Gaudré D., Méda B., Wilfart A. (2018). Multiobjective formulation is an effective method to reduce environmental impacts of livestock feeds. British Journal of Nutrition, 120(11), 1298-1309. DOI: 10.1017/S0007114518002672

Juanchich, A., Hennequet-Antier, C., Cabau, C., Le Bihan-Duval, E., Duclos, M., Mignon-Grasteau, S., Narcy, A. (2018). Functional genomics of the digestive tract in broilers. BMC Genomics, 19 (1). DOI: 10.1186/s12864-018-5344-z

Belloir P., Méda B., Lambert W, Corrent E., Juin H., Lessire M., Tesseraud S. (2017). Reducing crude protein content in broiler feeds: Impact on animal performance, meat quality and nitrogen balance. Animal, 11(11), 1881-1889. DOI: 10.1017/S1751731117000660

Bournazel, M., Lessire, M., Duclos, M.J., Magnin, M., Même, N., Peyronnet, C., Recoules, E., Quinsac, A., Labussière, E., Narcy A. (2017). Effects of rapeseed meal fiber content on phosphorus and calcium digestibility in growing pigs fed diets without or with microbial phytase. Animal, 12(1), 34-42. DOI: 10.1017/S1751731117001343

Recoules, E., Sabboh-Jourdan, H., Narcy, A., Lessire, M., Harichaux, G., Labas, V., Duclos, M.J., Rehault-Godbert, S. (2017). Exploring the in vivo digestion of plant proteins in broler chickens. Poultry Science, 96(6), 1735-1747. DOI: 10.3382/ps/pew444

Valable, A.S., Narcy, A., Duclos, M.J., Pomar, C., Page, G., Nasir, Z., Magnin, M., Létourneau, M.P. (2017). Effects of dietary calcium and phosphorus deficiency and subsequent recovery on broiler chicken growth performance and bone characteristics. Animal. DOI: 10.1017/S1751731117003093

Donato, D. C. Z., Sakomura, N. K., Silva, E. P., Troni, A. R., Vargas, L., Guagnoni, M. A. N., Méda, B. (2016). Manipulation of dietary methionine+cysteine and threonine in broilers significantly decreases environmental nitrogen excretion. Animal, 10 (06), 903-910. DOI: 10.1017/S175173111500289X.

Mignon-Grasteau, S., Chantry-Darmon, C., Boscher, M. Y., Sellier, N., Chabault-Dhuit, M., Lebihan-Duval, E., Narcy, A. (2016). Genetic determinism of bone and mineral metabolism in meat-type chickens: A QTL mapping study. Bone Reports, 5, 43-50. DOI: 10.1016/j.bonr.2016.02.004

Recoules, E., Brevault, N., Le Cadre, P., Peyronnet, C., Bouvarel, I., Lessire, M., (2016). L’autonomie protéique : état des lieux et voies d’amélioration pour l’alimentation des volailles. INRA Productions Animales, 29(2), 129-140. DOI: 10.20870/productions-animales.2016.29.1.2522

Rousseau, X., Valable, A.-S., Létourneau-Montminy, M.-P., Meme, N., Godet, E., Magnin, M., Nys, Y., Duclos, M. J., Narcy, A., (2016). Adaptive response of broilers to dietary phosphorus and calcium restrictions. Poultry Science, 95(12), 2849-2860. DOI: doi.org/10.3382/ps/pew172