Carbohydrase inclusion in a corn-soybean diet improves broiler growth performance

• Main Author: Simões, Flávio Eduardo de Souza
• Publication Date: 2023
• Other Authors: Mello, Heloisa Helena de Carvalho, Stringhini, José Henrique, Leandro, Nadja Susana Mogyca, Mascarenhas, Alessandra Gimenez, Martins, Julyana Machado da Silva, Café, Marcos Barcellos
• Format: Article
• Language: eng
• Source: Acta Scientiarum. Animal Sciences (Online)
• DOI: 10.4025/actascianimsci.v45i1.58738
• Download full: https://periodicos.uem.br/ojs/index.php/ActaSciAnimSci/article/view/58738
• topic: poultry; carbohydrate; enzymes; non-starch polysaccharides.; poultry; carbohydrate; enzymes; non-starch polysaccharides.

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of diets with reduced energy level content, supplemented with carbohydrase, on broiler performance and the coefficient of metabolizability of nutrients. A total of 720 one-day-old male Cobb-500 chicks were distributed in a completely randomized design, with six treatments, eight repetitions of 15 birds each. The treatments were: (1) a positive control, basal diet to meet the requirements of broiler chickens (PC); (2) a negative control, basal diet with a reduction of 80 kcal kg-1 (NC); (3) NC + alphagalactosydase; (4) NC + xylanase; (5) NC + xylanase and alphagalactosydase, and (6) NC + enzymatic blend (alphagalactosydase, xylanase, pectinase and amylase). The nutrient digestibility was not improved by use of enzymes. At 7 days of age, the broilers which were fed diets supplemented with enzymes showed a lower feed intake (FI) and better feed conversion ratio (FCR) than the broilers fed on PC.  Both the NC and enzymatic blend resulted in a worse performance of the broilers at 21, 35 and 42 days old. The use of alphagalactosydase and xylanase, isolated or in combination, in a corn-soybean meal-based diet is effective in improving the growth performance of broilers fed energy-reduced diets.