INFLUENCE OF TRICHODERMA-VIRIDE ENZYME COMPLEX ON NUTRIENT UTILIZATION AND PERFORMANCE OF LAYING HENS IN DIETS WITH AND WITHOUT ANTIBIOTIC SUPPLEMENTATION
Mv. Vranjes et C. Wenk, INFLUENCE OF TRICHODERMA-VIRIDE ENZYME COMPLEX ON NUTRIENT UTILIZATION AND PERFORMANCE OF LAYING HENS IN DIETS WITH AND WITHOUT ANTIBIOTIC SUPPLEMENTATION, Poultry science, 75(4), 1996, pp. 551-555
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.