Poultry diets and production Poultry diets in northern Europe are composed of relatively high quality ingredients, consisting primarily of wheat and soyabean meal with smaller quantities of barley, peas, beans, rapeseed meal and sunflower meals. The cereal component is usually from the less expensive residual material from human use and as a result the quality of the ingredients tend to vary in nutritional value. The major cost of production of poultry resides with the diet (around 60-70%). Thus, strategies that reduce dietary costs, and increase the efficiency of utilisation of nutrients have important implications in the production of poultry. The major types of poultry production in Europe consists of chicken, turkey and laying hens (6.2Mt chicken meat, 1.8Mt turkey meat, 5.1Mt eggs, from a total of 33.9Mt of meat). Thus poultry products, including eggs, accounts for about 39% of meat products and therefore assumes significant financial importance (FAO, 2002).