INFLUENCE OF TRICHODERMA-VIRIDE ENZYME COMPLEX ON NUTRIENT UTILIZATION AND PERFORMANCE OF LAYING HENS IN DIETS WITH AND WITHOUT ANTIBIOTIC SUPPLEMENTATION

The experiment was designed to test possible interactions of an enzyme complex (product from Trichoderma viride) and a feed antibiotic (flav ophospholipol) in a barley diet on metabolism variables and egg produc tion performance of Warren Brown laying hens. The basal diet contained 40% winter barley (French cultivar ''Express'', six-row). The four tr eatments were as follows: O, control (without supplement); E, enzyme c omplex, 600 ppm; A, flavophospholipol, 10 ppm; EA, enzyme complex, 600 ppm and flavophospholipol, 10 ppm. The enzyme complex contained the f ollowing main activities: cellulase (10,500 U/g), endo-beta-(1:3)(1:4) -glucanase (24,000 U/g), and xylanase (32,000 U/g). The enzyme positiv ely influenced AME content of the feed, organic matter (OM) utilizatio n, and neutral detergent fiber (NDF) degradability (P less than or equ al to 0.01). When supplemented alone, the antibiotic had no influence on energy and nutrient utilization. No significant differences in egg production due to dietary treatments were observed. A significant enzy me by antibiotic interaction for AME (P less than or equal to 0.01) an d OM utilization (P less than or equal to 0.001) as well as NDF degrad ability (P less than or equal to 0.01) indicated a reduced enzyme effe ct in the diet containing antibiotic. Negative enzyme by antibiotic in teraction for energy utilization in laying hens suggested that the pos itive response to dietary enzyme supplementation in the mature laying hen (Treatment O vs E) was to great extent mediated by the activity of intestinal microbes.