The effect of corn distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS) fortified with enzyme on growth performance of broiler

The objective of the current study was to investigate the effect of corn distiller's dried grains with solubles (DDGS) and enzyme supplementation on growth performance and carcass yield in broiler chickens. The experiment was a 5 × 3 factorial design with 450 broiler chickens and with diets containing five levels of DDGS (0, 6, 12, 18, and 24%) and three levels of the enzymes (no supplementation, Rovabio® enzyme, and Tomoko® enzyme). Five pens with six chicks were fed an experimental diet from 0 to 35 days of age. Diets containing 12, 18, and 24% DDGS decreased performance (P < 0.05) at the start of the trial at 0-10 days. Inclusion of enzyme during 0-10 days improved body weight gain (BWG) and European production efficiency factor (EPEF) (P < 0.05). During the grower (11-24 days) and finisher (25-35 days) periods, chickens which had received 0, 6, or 12% DDGS converted feed to body weight more efficiently (P < 0.05). Enzyme supplementation improved feed conversion ratio (FCR) for the periods (11-24 and 25-35 days, respectively) (P < 0.05). The cumulative performance results (0 to 35 days of age) showed that Tomoko enzyme improved FCR as compared to no enzyme while Rovabio was intermediate (P < 0.05). Chickens which had received 0, 6, or 12% had better FCR (P < 0.05) compared to 18 or 24% DDGS. Chick's performance was depressed at early age when the diet contained 12% DDGS but later, they were able to tolerate higher levels of DDGS. The study indicate that a maximum level of DDGS to use in the starter diets is 6% and it could be increased in the grower and finisher period to 12% and enzyme supplementation to diets containing DDGS can improve FCR and growth performance in broilers

Intestinal microbiota associated with differential feed conversion efficiency in chickens

Analysis of model systems, for example in mice, has shown that the microbiota in the gastrointestinal tract can play an important role in the efficiency of energy extraction from diets. The study reported here aimed to determine whether there are correlations between gastrointestinal tract microbiota population structure and energy use in chickens. Efficiency in converting food into muscle mass has a significant impact on the intensive animal production industries, where feed represents the major portion of production costs. Despite extensive breeding and selection efforts, there are still large differences in the growth performance of animals fed identical diets and reared under the same conditions. Variability in growth performance presents management difficulties and causes economic loss. An understanding of possible microbiota drivers of these differences has potentially important benefits for industry. In this study, differences in cecal and jejunal microbiota between broiler chickens with extreme feed conversion capabilities were analysed in order to identify candidate bacteria that may influence growth performance. The jejunal microbiota was largely dominated by lactobacilli (over 99% of jejunal sequences) and showed no difference between the birds with high and low feed conversion ratios. The cecal microbial community displayed higher diversity, and 24 unclassified bacterial species were found to be significantly (<0.05) differentially abundant between high and low performing birds. Such differentially abundant bacteria represent target populations that could potentially be modified with prebiotics and probiotics in order to improve animal growth performance.Dragana Stanley, Stuart E. Denman, Robert J. Hughes, Mark S. Geier, Tamsyn M. Crowley, Honglei Chen, Volker R. Haring, Robert J. Moor

Effects of concentration of corn distillers dried grains with solubles and enzyme supplementation on cecal microbiota and performance in broiler chickens

With the increasing production of ethanol for biofuels, a by-product of corn-based ethanol fermentation, dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS) is finding its way into the feed of agricultural animals including cattle, pigs, poultry, sheep, goats, aquaculture species and horses. Corn DDGS contains very high levels of non-starch polysaccharides and could be considered a good source of fibre. Despite knowledge of the role of the fibre in modulating intestinal microbiota and consequently influencing health, there is currently little information on the interactions between DDGS and intestinal microbiota. We assessed the changes in the cecal microbiota of broilers feed rations supplemented with DDGS (five concentrations: 0, 6, 12, 18 and 24% w/w) with and without presence of digestive enzymes. DDGS concentration was strongly positively correlated (P\ua0=\ua03.7e, r\ua0=\ua00.74) with feed conversion efficiency (FCR), diminishing broiler performance with higher concentrations. Additionally, DDGS concentrations positively correlated with Richness index (P\ua0=\ua01.5e, r\ua0=\ua00.5), increasing the number of detectable species in the cecum. Among the most affected genera, Faecalibacterium (P\ua0=\ua00.032, r\ua0=\ua0−0.34) and Streptococcus (P\ua0=\ua07.9e, r\ua0=\ua0−0.39) were negatively correlated with DDGS, while Turicibacter (P\ua0=\ua02.8e, r\ua0=\ua00.52) was positively correlated with the DDGS concentration. Enzymes showed minimal effect on cecal microbiota