Poultry industry in the Gulf Cooperation Council with emphasis on Kuwait

SUMMARY

In Kuwait, per capita consumption of poultry meat was 64.4 kg/cap/yr from 2004 to 2016. This indicates the high demand for poultry meat in Kuwait, which cannot be met by local production alone. The Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR) has conducted poultry research projects into high-quality and added-value poultry products, which could be utilised to enhance competitiveness in Kuwait production systems. Their scientific achievements include developing broiler and layer feed rations, improving FCR of broilers from 2.0 to 1.4, production of high-quality broilers, strict biosecurity measures on farm and enhanced diversity of poultry products, such as meat and eggs from Arabi chickens, quail and ducks. However, more work is needed in the areas of poultry feed and added-value product technology. In addition, technology transfer of KISR Intellectual property (IP) and knowledge to the poultry industry is necessary. The goal of this paper was to show the major achievements of KISR poultry research; identify gaps and propose solutions to improve production and enhance local industry competitiveness, in addition to conservation of the endangered avian species: Falcons and Houbara.

KEYWORDS:

• Broilers
• layers
• meat consumption
• poultry
• poultry research

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.