Glycerine: an alternative energy source for poultry

SUMMARY Feed industrialists have always been in search of alternative, highly nutritive and low-cost feed ingredients. Being energy enriched entity, crude glycerine, a co-product of biodiesel industry, has become a focus point for feed formulators. Day by day increasing trend of using this peculiar feedstuff is a proof for its potential to be used in animal diets. Variability in its energy content depending upon its source and purity is major challenge for researchers to summarise and standardise its usage in poultry diets. Although, it exerts beneficial effects up to certain level in broiler, layer and quail diets but the parameters related to egg quality and hatching traits may get deteriorated. Therefore, there is dire need to further explore the hidden truth behind this phenomenon. This manuscript encompasses the importance of glycerine for poultry diets and its effect on productive and reproductive performance of the birds.