Intestinal health is critically important for the digestion and absorption of nutrients and thus is a key factor in determining performance. Intestinal health issues are very common in high performing poultry lines due to the high feed intake, which puts pressure on the physiology of the digestive system. Excess nutrients which are not digested and absorbed in the small intestine may trigger dysbiosis, i.e. a shift in the microbiota composition in the intestinal tract. Dysbiosis as well as other stressors elicit an inflammatory response and loss of integrity of the tight junctions between the epithelial cells, leading to gut leakage.  key factors determining intestinal health and the most important nutritional tools which are available to support intestinal health .

Then the question of why and how gut health is under pressure in the modern broiler will be addressed, with particular emphasis on the three main and interrelated drivers of poor intestinal health, namely dysbiosis, mucosal barrier leakage and inflammation.