Several presentations at the recent European Symposium on Poultry Nutrition (ESPN) 2025 meeting tackled a familiar – but still unresolved – issue in animal nutrition: How do we move from scientific nutrient requirements to real-world feed specifications? It’s a question that keeps resurfacing because, despite our tools and data, the bridge between theory and practice isn’t always straightforward. Three speakers stood out to me for the different angles they offered. Each had merit, but each also raised questions worth considering.
Jaap van Milgen of the French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA) took the modeling route. His presentation leaned heavily on INRA’s most recent frameworks, especially those introduced in its 2018 ruminant requirements publication. These are now embedded in INRAtion, a subscription-based platform that puts the modeling engine into the hands of paid users.
