Effect of an Enzyme Complex in a Wheat-Based Diet on Performance of Male and Female Broilers

Abstract

The effect of supplementing an enzyme complex derived from Trichoderma longibrachiatum (Roxazyme® G2) to a wheat-based control diet was tested with 4,500 sexed Ross broilers (PM3) in 20 replicates of 225 animals. The trial was designed as a 2 × 2 factorial experiment with the factors enzyme (0/130 ppm) and sex (male/female). All of the cereals were harvested at least 1 yr before being fed to the broilers.Enzyme supplementation significantly decreased jejunal viscosity on a low level at Day 21 (2.17 vs. 2.68 mPa × s), whereas jejunal pH was not changed. Up to Day 41, and similar for both sexes, live weight and feed conversion ratio (FCR) were significantly improved by 2.3 and 2.4%, respectively. By adding the enzyme complex, no differences were observed for mortality rate, litter quality, or slaughter parameters. Weight uniformity was increased for male broilers when the enzyme was added to the diets, whereas no effect was observed with female broilers. In comparison to the females, male broilers had increased body weight (+16.3%), higher feed consumption (+12.9%), and improved FCR (-3.1%). Mortality rate was slightly higher for males. The tested slaughter and jejunal parameters were not influenced by the sex. Improved growth performance can be expected for male and female broilers with supplementation of the tested enzyme complex to wheat-based diets, even when cereals stored for 1 yr are included in the diet.