Growth performance and nutrient digestibility of broiler chickens as affected by a novel protease

Two experiments evaluated the addition of an exogenous sfericase protease in broiler diets. Experiments were run (Exp1 and Exp2) with 1,848 and 2,100 one-dayold male chicks being allocated into 84 floor pens with 14 replicates of 22 and 25 birds each, respectively. The studies were conducted in completely randomized designs. In Exp1, Standard diets were formulated with energy and AA at marginally lower levels than usual by the Brazilian integration such that broilers were expected to grow at comparatively reduced rates to the industry whereas in Exp2, the Standard diets were formulated using energy and AA as usual by the Brazilian integrations such that broilers were expected to grow comparable to industry rates. Standard diets had ideally balanced amino acids (AA). Matrix diets, in contrast, had reductions of 6% digestible lysine and of 20 kcal AME/kg compared to the Standard. Matrix diets were supplemented with an sfericase protease at 0, 10,000, and 30,000 New Feed Protease units (NFP)/kg. Outcomes showed no interaction between diet and protease in any of the experiments. However, broilers fed Standard diets had higher cumulative body weight gain (BWG) to 35 and 42 d when compared to Matrix fed birds whereas FCR were worse for birds fed the Matrix diets at 35 d in EXP1 and at 35 and 42 d in EXP2. Improvements in FCR were observed when the sfericase protease was added throughout all ages in EXP1 with a beneficial trend (P<0.067) observed in the cumulative FCR at 42 d in EXP2. The ileal digestible crude protein (IDCP) was significantly higher for birds fed Standard feeds in EXP1 with no other differences in digestibility found in any of the experiments. Protease addition led to improvements in ileal digestibility of dry matter (IDM) and IDCP (P < 0.05) compared to no protease addition in EXP1 as well as in ileal digestibility of energy (IDE) when 30,000 protease units were added. The present report demonstrates that the novel sfericase protease was successful in compensate broiler performance when reductions of 6% digestible Lys and 20 kcal/kg AME were imposed. This compensation, however, seemed more notable when birds were fed diets formulated to support moderate rather than maximum growth and having animal protein in the feed formula

Efficacy and Metabolizable Energy Equivalence of an α-Amylase-β-Glucanase Complex for Broilers

A trial was conducted to evaluate the effects of adding an exogenous α-amylase-β-glucanase complex produced from Bacillus amyloliquefaciens on the growth performance, carcass yield, and relative AME bioequivalence in broilers fed corn-soy diets from 1 to 40 d of age. One thousand seven hundred and fifty one-day-old Cobb x Cobb 500 slow-feathering male broilers were randomly allotted to seven treatments with 10 replicates of 25 birds each as follows: control diet (C); C diet with reduction of 60 (C-60), 90 (C-90), or 120 (C-120) kcal AME/kg; C diet with reduction of 120 kcal AME/kg and supplemented with 200 (C-120-200), 300 (C-120-300), or 400 (C-120-400) mg of the enzyme complex/kg. Each g of the enzyme complex corresponded to 200 kilo-Novo α-amylase and 350 fungal β-glucanase units. On d 40, eight birds were randomly taken from each pen and processed to evaluate carcass and commercial cuts yields. Percent mortality was not affected by the treatments (p > 0.05). Live performance, as indicated by BW gain (BWG) linearly decreased (p < 0.05) and FCR linearly increased with the reduction in AME. Birds fed diets supplemented with the enzyme complex showed weekly improvements in BWG and FCR. There were no effects of the treatments on the yield of the carcass or of commercial cuts; however, abdominal fat was significantly lower (p < 0.0343) in birds fed the C-120-400 compared to the C-120 feeding program (1.67% vs. 1.90%); all other treatments were intermediate. Average AME equivalence of the enzyme complex varied weekly. Estimations for the entire period were 40, 46, and 56 kcal for BWG and 58, 76, and 99 kcal AME/kg for FCR (p < 0.001) for the diets containing 200, 300, and 400 mg enzyme complex/kg, respectively

Efficacy and Metabolizable Energy Equivalence of an α-Amylase-β-Glucanase Complex for Broilers

A trial was conducted to evaluate the effects of adding an exogenous α-amylase-β-glucanase complex produced from Bacillus amyloliquefaciens on the growth performance, carcass yield, and relative AME bioequivalence in broilers fed corn-soy diets from 1 to 40 d of age. One thousand seven hundred and fifty one-day-old Cobb x Cobb 500 slow-feathering male broilers were randomly allotted to seven treatments with 10 replicates of 25 birds each as follows: control diet (C); C diet with reduction of 60 (C-60), 90 (C-90), or 120 (C-120) kcal AME/kg; C diet with reduction of 120 kcal AME/kg and supplemented with 200 (C-120-200), 300 (C-120-300), or 400 (C-120-400) mg of the enzyme complex/kg. Each g of the enzyme complex corresponded to 200 kilo-Novo α-amylase and 350 fungal β-glucanase units. On d 40, eight birds were randomly taken from each pen and processed to evaluate carcass and commercial cuts yields. Percent mortality was not affected by the treatments (p > 0.05). Live performance, as indicated by BW gain (BWG) linearly decreased (p < 0.05) and FCR linearly increased with the reduction in AME. Birds fed diets supplemented with the enzyme complex showed weekly improvements in BWG and FCR. There were no effects of the treatments on the yield of the carcass or of commercial cuts; however, abdominal fat was significantly lower (p < 0.0343) in birds fed the C-120-400 compared to the C-120 feeding program (1.67% vs. 1.90%); all other treatments were intermediate. Average AME equivalence of the enzyme complex varied weekly. Estimations for the entire period were 40, 46, and 56 kcal for BWG and 58, 76, and 99 kcal AME/kg for FCR (p < 0.001) for the diets containing 200, 300, and 400 mg enzyme complex/kg, respectively