Protease supplementation reduced the heat increment of feed and improved energy and nitrogen partitioning in broilers fed maize-based diets with supplemental phytase and xylanase

An experiment was conducted to explore the effects of digestible amino acid(dAA)concentrations and supplemental protease on live performance and energy partitioning in broilers.Ross 308 male broilers(n?288)were distributed into 24 floor pens and offered 1 of 4 dietary treatments with 6 replicates from 1 to 35 d of age.Dietary treatments consisted of a 2×2 factorial arrangement with dAA concentrations(standard and reduced[34 g/kg below standard])and supplemental protease(without or with)as the main factors.At 1,15,28,and 35 d of age,feed and broilerswereweighed to determine live performance.From20 to 23 d of age,a total of 32 birds(2 birds/chamber,4 replicates)were placed in closed-calorimeter chambers to determine respiratory exchange(heat production,HP),apparent metabolisable energy(AME),retained energy(RE),and net energy(NE).From 29 to 35 d of age,supplemental protease in the reduced-dAA diet decreased broiler feed conversion ratio(FCR)by 5.6 points,whereas protease supplementation in the standard-dAA diet increased FCR by 5.8 points.The indirect calorimetry assay revealed that supplemental protease decreased(P<0.05)the heat increment of feed(HIF)by 0.22 MJ/kg.Also,from 20 to 23 d of age,broilers offered the reduced-dAA diet with supplemental protease had a higher daily body weight gain(BWG)(t10.4%),N intake(t7.1%),and N retention(t8.2%)than those offered the standard-dAA with supplemental protease.Broilers offered the reduced-dAA without supplemental protease exhibited a 3.6%higher AME-to-crude protein(CP)ratio than those offered other treatments.Protease supplementation in the standard-and reduced-dAA diets resulted in 2.7%and 5.6%lower AME intake-to-N retention ratios,respectively,compared with the unsupplemented controls.Reduced-dAA increased(P<0.05)AME intake(t4.8%),RE(t9.8%),NE intake(t5.8%),NE intake-to-CP ratio(t3.0%),and RE fat-to-RE ratio(t8.6%).Protease supplementation increased(P<0.05)respiratory quotient(t1.2%)and N retention-to-N intake ratio(t2.2%),NE-to-AME ratio(t1.9%),and reduced HP(3.6%),heat increment(7.4%),and NE intake-to-N retention(2.5%).In conclusion,protease positively affected FCR and energy partitioning in broilers;responses were most apparent in diets with reduced-dAA concentrations.

Multi-carbohydrase enzymes improve feed energy in broiler diets containing standard or low crude protein

This study evaluated the effect of multi-carbohydrase(MC)on energy and nitrogen(N)balance and gene expression in broilers fed diets with different crude protein(CP)contents.The study employed a 2×2 factorial arrangement of treatments.The factors were presence or absence of MC,and standard(SCP)or low(LCP)dietary CP concentration.A 3-phase feeding program was used,including starter(0 to 7 d),grower(8 to 17 d)and finisher(18 to 28 d)phases.The study was undertaken in closed calorimetry chambers.Each of the 4 dietary treatments was replicated 8 times in total across 2 runs,with 2 birds per replicate(n=64).Data for energy partitioning and N balance were collected from d 25 to 28.On d 28,birds were euthanized to collect muscle and intestinal tissue samples for gene expression.The results showed that the MC increased apparent metabolizable energy(AME,P<0.01)and net energy(NE,P<0.05),and reduced the feed conversion ratio(FCR,P<0.01)in all diets.The proportion of energy retained as fat per total energy retention(REf/RE)was positively correlated with feed AME and NE(r=0.541,P<0.01 and r=0.665,P<0.001,respectively),suggesting that feed energy augmented with increased fat gain.Muscle ATP synthase subunit alpha(ATPSA1W)gene expression had a positive cor-relation with REf/RE and feed NE(r=0.587,P<0.001 and r=0.430,P<0.05,respectively).Similarly,muscle peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator 1 alpha(PGC-1A)expression was negatively correlated with weight gain and positively correlated with FCR(r-0.451,P<0.05 and r-0.359,P<0.05,respectively).These correlations show that over-expressions of muscle genes related to energy production reduce bird performance.This study demonstrated that MC increase dietary energy utilization,regardless of dietary CP concentration.However,the energy released by the enzymes in-creases feed energy-to-CP ratio,meaning there is excess energy that is then deposited as body fat.This suggests that supplemental MC in broiler feeds is beneficial if diets are formulated to contain marginal energy levels.