EFFECT OF ENZYME SUPPLEMENTATION ON THE NUTRITIONAL-VALUE OF RAW, AUTOCLAVED, AND DEHULLED LUPINS (LUPINUS-ALBUS) IN CHICKEN DIETS

The effects of adding crude enzyme preparations to diets containing ra w, antoclaved, and dehulled lupin seeds on the performance of broiler and Leghorn chicks (7 to 21 days) were evaluated in five experiments. In the first experiment, enzyme addition (combination of Energex(R)-ca rbohydrase, Bio-Feed Pro(R)-protease, and Novozyme(R)-alpha-galactosid ase) to a diet containing 70% raw lupins improved the weight gain and feed to gain ratio of broiler chicks by 18 and 10%, respectively. The relative intestinal length and gizzard weight also were reduced by enz yme treatment. In the second experiment, the optimum concentration of enzymes was determined in diets containing 50% raw lupins. Bio-Feed Pr o(R) at 3% increased weight gains by 24% and the feed to gain ratio by 11%, whereas a combination of three enzymes at .10% of each yielded r espective improvements of 18 and 9%. In Experiment 3, the AME and prot ein digestibility of dehulled lupin seeds were increased by 18 and 7% compared with those for raw seeds. Autoclaving (20 min) significantly (P < .05) improved chick performance and AME and protein digestibility of raw seeds. In the fourth experiment, autoclaving (15 min), dehulli ng, and a combination of both improved weight gains by 11, 15, and 8% and feed to gain ratios by 4, 11, and 6%, respectively. Enzyme additio n improved the performance of birds fed raw, but not autoclaved lupin diets. In the fifth experiment, dehulling and enzyme treatment but not autoclaving (20 min) improved the performance of birds fed diets cont aining 50% lupins. The relative weight of the gizzard was reduced by b oth treatments but that of the pancreas was affected only by enzyme tr eatment. Overall, enzyme supplementation of raw lupin diets considerab ly improved chick performance. Dehulling of lupins also improved chick performance with results for autoclaved lupins being inconsistent.