Growth performance, Intestinal Morphology and Carcass Characteristics of Broiler Chicks Fed on Sugar Beet Pulp without or with Enzyme Supplementation

Abstract

This experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of replacing yellow corn with increased levels of sugar beet pulp (SBP) without or with enzyme supplementation on growth performance, intestinal morphology and carcass traits of broiler chicks over a six-week experimental period. Two hundred, one-day broiler chicks were randomly assigned to 8 groups as following: group 1 (G1) which fed the basal diet (BD) without SBP (control); G2-G4 fed the BD containing different levels of SBP at 3, 6 and 9 % respectively; while, G5-G8 had the same design of the previously mentioned groups (G1-G4) with enzyme supplementation (Union-enzyme multienzyme with 200 g/ ton feed inclusion level). Birds received increasing levels of SBP showed significant reduction (P 0.05) with enzyme addition to these diets. Besides, dietary feeding on SBP had adverse effects on the intestinal morphology parameters in jejunum which was alleviated with enzyme addition to these diets. Moreover, 9% SBP inclusion in broiler diet significantly increased (P< 0.05) liver, gizzard, thymus and bursa relative weight compared to birds fed on SBP-free diet. However, the lower levels of SBP (3 and 6 %) showed no difference when compared to their reference group. It could be concluded that SBP can be used in broiler diet at the level of 3 % with enzyme supplementation without any adverse effects on the growth performance and feed utilization, while the higher inclusion levels of SBP (6 and 9 %) adversely affected the previously mentioned parameters.