Editorial: Sustainable nutritional strategies for improving health status, egg and meat quality in poultry

Ensuring animal health and providing safe and affordable foods of animal origin that can meet the growing global demand, while respecting the three pillars of sustainability (environmental, economic, and consumer dimensions), represents a major, complex, and multifactorial challenge. In this context, the present Research Topic explores a range of sustainable nutritional strategies that may help maintain a balance between productivity, poultry health, egg and meat quality, human food security, and environmental sustainability. Particular attention has been given to the ways in which nutritional strategies can influence not only intestinal health and production performance but also the overall health status of poultry, including immune responses and antioxidant capacity. Understanding these interactions is essential for developing feeding approaches that support both productive efficiency and animal welfare. The aim of this Research Topic is to bring together studies that contribute to improving poultry nutrition and feeding practices, with the goal of enhancing productivity, quality, and safety of animal-derived products, while also supporting poultry health and welfare. At the same time, these contributions address broader sustainability goals in modern livestock production systems, including the application of circular economy principles.Overall, these efforts aim to promote sustainable nutritional strategies that maintain a balance between productivity, poultry welfare, and consumer safety, while integrating metabolomics as an important bridge between genotype and phenotype in the development of precision nutrition approaches.The Research Topic "Sustainable Nutritional Strategies for Improving Health Status, Egg and Meat Quality in Poultry" brings together a collection of 26 articles, including both original research and review papers, that present recent advances and innovative perspectives in poultry nutrition. The contributions address several current and relevant topics through a multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary approach, such as innovative feed additives and ingredients, productivity and feed efficiency, gut microbiota and immune function, metabolism, serum biochemistry and antioxidant capacity, intestinal health and welfare, as well as the safety and quality of poultry products. In total, the collection includes 24 original research articles and 2 review papers authored by researchers from different countries.The studies included in this Research Topic mainly focus on evaluating the effects of various sustainable nutritional strategies on productive performance, the nutritional and functional quality of poultry products (meat and eggs), serum biochemical parameters, immune responses, antioxidant activity, and the balance of the intestinal microbiome. Another important aspect addressed in this collection is the use of unconventional feed resources rich in nutrients and bioactive compounds. Such resources may contribute to improving the sustainability of poultry production systems, enhancing both intestinal and overall poultry health, and supporting the production of animal-derived foods (meat and eggs) with improved nutritional profiles that are safe for consumers.Poultry meat has become one of the most important sources of animal protein in the human diet, largely due to the high yield and production efficiency of broiler chickens, achieved through intensive genetic selection and continuous improvements in nutritional programs. However, modern broiler production practices may negatively affect meat quality as a result of several factors, including high stocking density and rapid growth rate, digestive disorders associated with bacterial and parasitic infections, heat stress, and the (BA), which significantly reduced the mRNA expression of genes associated with lipogenesis while increasing the expression of genes related to lipolysis in the liver. In addition, BA supplementation improved production performance, serum enzyme activity, lipid metabolism, and intestinal morphology in broiler chickens, thereby providing a theoretical basis for the application of bile acids in broiler production systems.The implementation of targeted nutritional modifications represents a viable strategy for optimizing food safety while maintaining poultry production performance. Because the consumption of poultry meat contaminated with Campylobacter jejuni represents a major route for the transmission of zoonotic pathogens to humans, controlling the intestinal microbiota at the farm level is essential for reducing risks along the food chain. In this context, dietary manipulation-through reducing dietary iron and phosphorus levels while Conventional poultry diets rely primarily on soybean meal as the main source of protein, as it closely meets the nutritional requirements of poultry. However, there is currently an increasing gap between the production, availability, and demand for soybean products and by-products used in animal ). The results suggest that SL, BSFL, and insectderived by-products, due to their favorable nutritional and functional profiles, can effectively substitute part of the soybean meal in diets for slow-growing broilers and laying hens raised in ecological production systems. This approach not only improved growth performance, eggshell thickness, and the overall physiological status of the birds, but also contributes to reducing the pressure on conventional protein resources while providing a scientific framework for the efficient utilization of unconventional feed resources within the context of the circular economy.The identification of high-quality and high-yield alternative feed resources has also been a key objective of studies proposing the use of a perennial plant from the Urticaceae family, commonly known as ramie (Boehmeria nivea) or "China grass", in meat duck diets. Replacing the standard diet with fermented ramie mixed with wheat bran (1:1) for a period of 90 days improved the growth performance of ducks, likely due to its beneficial effects on serum biochemistry, antioxidant capacity, intestinal morphology, and the structure of the intestinal microbiota (Lv et al.). These findings suggest that fermented ramie represents an innovative and efficient feed resource that may help reduce the dependence on conventional feed ingredients such as corn and soybean in poultry production.The transition toward modern and sustainable poultry production requires the adoption of a multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary approach that integrates traditional nutritional strategies with advanced fields such as metabolomics. Such an approach prioritizes animal welfare and consumer safety while promoting the use of innovative resources within a circular and resilient production system. Future research in the field of sustainable nutritional strategies for poultry farming should focus on integrating "Omics" technologies for precision nutrition, using metabolic, genomic, and microbiomic biomarkers to formulate tailored diets capable of simultaneously optimizing production performance, health status, and product quality. At the same time, the exploration and validation of sustainable alternative ingredients, including through life cycle assessment analyses, represent a key direction for supporting gut health and immune response, modulating the quality profile of eggs and meat, and reducing environmental impact. Optimizing the nutritional profile of poultry products, particularly by enriching them with polyunsaturated fatty acids, antioxidants, and micronutrients, without compromising oxidative stability and sensory properties, remains a priority objective that will support the sustainable development of the poultry sector.