Synergistic effect of non starch polysaccharide enzymes, synbiotics and phytase on performance, nutrient utilization and gut health in broilers fed with sub-optimal energy diets

Abstract

Aim: In view of the ban on antibiotic growth promoters (AGPs), an attempt was made to explore the possibility of harnessing synergistic effect of non starch polysaccharide (NSP) enzymes, synbiotics and phytase on performance, nutrient retention, gut health and histology of broilers fed with corn-soybean meal based low calorie diets. Materials and Methods: A total of 150 a day-old broiler chicks were weighed, wing banded and randomly distributed into five experimental groups, six replicates per group and five birds per replicate and raised in electrically heated battery brooders. Evaluated the synergistic effect of the NSP enzymes, synbiotics and phytase alone or in combination, supplemented to cornsoybean meal based broiler diet, low in energy concentration (Basal diet (BD)) (-225 kcal lower metabolizable energy than standard diet (SD), on performance, nutrient retention, carcass traits, gut conditions and cost per kg live weight gain. Results: The body weight gain in broiler chicks fed with BD supplemented with NSP enzymes, synbiotics and phytase was significantly (P<0.01) higher. Supplementation of NSP enzymes, synbiotics and phytase alone or in combination had significant effect on feed intake. Synergistic effect of NSP enzyme, synbiotics and phytase was observed on overall feed conversion ratio (1.86), which improved (P<0.05) in comparison to BD (2.06) and SD (2.02), respectively. The supplementation of NSP enzymes, synbiotics and phytase to BD improved (P<0.05) utilization of organic matter (OM), crude protein (CP), nitrogen free extract (NFE), gross energy (GE), phosphorus and the tibia ash compared to BD, whereas no effect on retention of DM and CF was observed. Intestinal viscosity and E. coli count significantly (P<0.01) reduced with addition of NSP enzymes, synbiotics plus phytase or combination of all. The supplementation of NSP enzymes, synbiotics plus phytase had no effect on intestinal histology. The cost of feeding was lower (P<0.01) in BD. Addition of these feed additives to BD did not increase the feeding cost and was comparable to unsupplemented ones and lower (P<0.01) than SD. Similarly, the feed cost per kg live weight gain during various phases of broiler production was reduced (P<0.01) due to supplementation of all the feed additives compared to SD and BD. Conclusions: It can be concluded from the above experiment that supplementing sub-optimal energy diets with NSP enzymes along with synbiotics and phytase improved body weight gain, FCR, nutrient retention, tibia ash and reduced the cost of production considerably.