Performance of broiler chickens fed diets supplemented with feed grade enzyme

Abstract

The effect of dietary supplementation of a commercial multi-enzyme complex (Avizyme 1500™) on the performance and nutrient digestibility by broiler finishers was investigated. A total of 120 d-old broiler chickens was assigned to four treatments each having two replicates of 15 birds in a 2 x 2 factorial block design. Avizyme was-incorporated into the finisher diets at inclusion levels of 0 (high and low fibre diets), 1.0 and 2.0g/Kg diets in diets 1-4 respectively. The study covered the finisher phase (4-8 week period). Results obtained indicated that incorporation of Avizyme up to 2.0g/Kg diet into broiler finisher diet produced no significant (P > 0.05) effects on average daily feed intake and feed conversion efficiency of the birds but depressed daily weight gain (P < 0.05). The average final body weight followed the same trend as the daily weight gain, as the birds fed control diet and diet containing 1g/kg Avizyme did best (P < 0.05). The digestibility of nutrients did not differ significantly (P > 0.05) among treatments. Birds on the control diet used nutrients better than the rest treatments. The haematological parameters such as Packed Cell Volume (PCV), Haemoglobin (Hb), White Blood Cell (WBC), Mean Corpuscular Haemoglobin (MCH), and Mean Corpuscular Haemoglobin Concentration (MCHC) except for Red Blood Corpuscles (RBC) did not differ (P > 0.05) among treatments. Dressing percentage, cut-up parts and weight of organs expressed as a percentage of body weight did not differ significantly (P > .0.05). The results of this study showed that the inclusion of 1 g/kg of the enzyme mixture into broiler finisher diet did not show any adverse effect on the performance and blood parameters of the broiler chickens. The 1 g/kg level of inclusion of enzyme in the diet appears to be most beneficial to the farmer in view of its relatively better results.