Adding Roxazyme to Wheat Diets of Chicken and Turkey Broilers

Abstract

We conducted two experiments with turkey broiler hens and one experiment with chicken broilers to note the effect of adding the enzyme Roxazyme to diets containing wheat as the major cereal source. In Experiment 1, turkey hens were significantly (P < .01) heavier at 56 days when fed Roxazyme (3782 vs. 3113g) and this effect carried through to market age of 72 days (6436 vs. 5774g). Feed intake increased significantly, although feed efficiency, mortality, and litter score were not affected. In a second study with turkey hens, enzyme had no effect on performance when fed from only 28-84 days.Male broiler chickens fed a wheat-based diet were also heavier at 28 days when fed Roxazyme (1352 vs. 1286g), although this effect declined with age. At 42 days, however, Roxazyme affected carcass weight significantly (1942 vs. 1848g), and this was associated with more abdominal fat (41.9 vs. 33.4g) and more breast meat (421 vs. 397g). For both broilers and turkeys, the effects of Roxazyme are most pronounced in the starter period.