Improvements in nutrient digestibility and performance of broiler chickensfed a wheat-and-rye based diet supplemented with enzymes

The aim of the present experiment was to study the effect of an increasing level of an enzyme preparation on intestinal viscosity, ileal digestibility and performance of broiler chickens fed a diet containing wheat (63%) and rye (9.35%) in the period from 0-21 days of age. Four diets, containing 11. 98 MJ ME/kg; feed and 19.52% protein, were included in the experiment: Cont rol (basal diet), L, M, and H (basal diet with 100, 200 and 300 mg Bio-Feed Wheat CT/kg, respectively). Feed conversion in chickens fed the diet with the medium dose of enzyme was significantly (P <0.002) better compared with the control group and the chickens fed the diet with the lowest dose of en zyme by 5.0 and 3.3%, respectively. Weight gain of chickens fed diet M was improved by 5.3%, and was significantly (P <0.0008) different from all the other groups. Enzyme addition reduced viscosity in jejunum (P <0.007) and i leum (P <0.05), diet L being the exception. A significant (P <0.001) improv ement in ileal protein digestibility was found in the chickens fed diet M, the increase being 12.4% compared with the control, confirming the results found on performance. Enzyme addition to the other groups increased the ile al protein digestibility on average by 3.5%, but not significantly differen t from the control. A pronounced effect of enzyme supplementation was found on the ileal fat digestibility of chickens fed diet M, the improvement (P <0.0007) being as high as 17.0%. In addition, the ileal digestibility of or ganic matter in chickens fed diet M was improved by 8.9% compared with the control group (P <0.02).