Effects of enzyme cocktails on in vitro digestibility of palm kernel cake

Abstract

The variable nature of crude fibre and the difference in the profile of exogenous enzymes have necessitated the need to investigate the effects of enzyme cocktail on some high fibre feed stuffs. Whether enzyme cocktail will perform better than individual enzyme is still a subject of research. This research was conducted to test the hypothesis that cocktail of enzymes will perform better than individual enzymes on palm kernel cake using in vitro technique. Three different exogenous enzymes namely xylanase, multipurpose and phytase were used individually and as cocktails in a completely randomized design. There were eight treatments comprising of a control (with no enzyme) and seven experimental treatments with either individual enzymes, pairwise combination of enzymes or combination of the three enzymes. Each treatment was replicated thrice. In vitro technique was carried out and values of nutrients’ digestibility obtained were analyzed using Statistical Analyses Software. Treatments means were separated using Duncan’s multiple range test. This study revealed that multipurpose enzyme was significantly (P<0.05) better than other individual enzymes in their effects on digestibility of dry matter, crude fibre and fibre fractions with the exception of acid detergent lignin where there was no significant difference (P>0.05) between the treatments. Phytase gave the least improvement in the measured parameters among the individual enzymes. Cocktails of enzymes were significantly better (P<0.05) than individual enzymes in their effects on digestibility of dry matter, crude fibre and fibre fractions while cocktail of the three enzymes was significantly (P<0.05) the best among the cocktails. The study concluded that cocktail of exogenous enzymes holds better potential than individual enzymes in improving the utilization of palm kernel cake for poultry species.