Poultry nutrition has evolved beyond simply formulating diets to meet nutrient requirements, with greater attention given to feed efficiency, animal health, environmental challenges, and the quality of poultry products. This Special Issue brings together 11 studies covering a range of topics, including alternative ingredients, functional dietary additives, feed processing, heat-stress mitigation, intestinal microbiota, and poultry product quality. The studies investigated insect meals, Bombyx mori, Camelina sativa, and Spirulina platensis, in addition to phytogenic compounds, selenium, fermented feeds, and enzyme-based approaches. The results show that these nutritional strategies can influence growth performance, nutrient utilization, immune and antioxidant responses, as well as meat and egg characteristics. At the same time, several factors may limit their application in commercial poultry production. These include differences in the composition of alternative ingredients, variation in responses under different experimental conditions, and the relatively small number of studies carried out under commercial production settings. Future studies should place greater emphasis on understanding their mechanisms of action, establishing appropriate inclusion levels, and assessing potential interactions among different strategies. It will also be important to consider the economic feasibility and environmental consequences of their use. Such information will help translate experimental findings into practical and more consistent nutritional strategies for poultry.

This study evaluated the effects of increasing dietary levels of olive pomace on performance, eggshell quality, nutrient utilization, and excreta moisture of breeder hens. A total 64 White Plymouth Rock were housed individually and assigned to four treatments with 16 replicates in a completely randomized design. Hens were fed a corn-soy control diet or diets with 2%, 4%, or 6% olive pomace over three consecutive 28-day periods (65 to 76 weeks of age). Means were compared, and regression equations were fitted for the olive pomace levels. Diets did not significantly affect egg production, egg weight, egg mass, eggshell, yolk and albumen percentages. However, feed conversion ratio quadratically improved with 3.5% olive pomace (P = 0.025). Optimal inclusion that reduced dirty eggs was 2.8% (P = 0.042) and that improved cuticle quality was 3.6% (P = 0.010). Olive pomace also linearly increased yolk yellowness and redness. In conclusion, olive pomace can serve as an alternative ingredient for hens, particularly due to its benefits in improving yolk color and eggshell characteristics. This study highlighted its role in supporting local poultry production systems.