Effect of supplementing a enzyme mixture in sorghum plus soybean meal diets on apparent ileal amino acid and protein digestibility, metabolizable energy, and productivity in broilers

The effect: of addition of a commercial enzyme mixture (pectinases, (a) over cap -glucanases and hemicellulases) to sorghum+soybean meal diets on apparent ileal amino acid and protein digestibility, metabolizable energy and productive performance in broiler was evaluated with two experiments. Both experiments included four treatments: 1. Control, sorghum+soybean meal diet; 2. Control diet + enzymes; 3. Low-nutrient sorghum+soybean meal diet (7 % reduction in crude protein (CP), amino acids (AA) and metabolizable energy (ME); and 4. Low-nutrient diet + enzymes. A completely randomized design with a 2 x 2 factorial arrangement was used in both experiments; one factor was diets (control and low-nutrient) and the other factor was addition or not of enzymes. Exp 1 included 240 Ross 308 broiler chicks in a trial from 1 to 21 d of age, and Exp 2 included 280 Ross 308 chicks in a trial from 1 to 49 d of age. At 21 d in Exp 1, weight gain was lower (P<0.05) in the low-nutrient diets but improved with addition of enzymes. Ilea) amino acid digestibility and ME was best (3.0 % and 6.5 % respectively) in the low-nutrient diet with enzymes. At 49 d in Exp 2, weight gain was lower (P<0.05) in the low-nutrient diets but improved with addition of enzymes. Addition of the enzyme mixture improved the nutritional value of sorghum-soybean meal diets for broilers by increasing amino acid digestibility and metabolizable energy. This confirms the possibility of using enzymes to produce lower-cost feeds with adequate nutritional content and growth performance comparable to conventional feeds.