Improving broiler performance with dietary supplementation of a multi-enzyme complex at three different inclusion levels of phytase

Dissertation (MSc (Agric) Animal Science: Animal Nutrition)--University of Pretoria, 2022.In South Africa, maize and soybean form the main component of broiler diets. The anti-nutritional properties in these ingredients negatively influence the performance of broilers. Non-starch polysaccharides and phytate are some of the main anti-nutritional factors that nutritionists aim to reduce. Through the use of exogenous feed enzymes these anti-nutritional factors can be mitigated to improve digestibility of the feed and thus the nutritional value of the feed. This study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of the enzyme complex Rovabio Advance T-Flex® that is produced by Talaromyces versatilis, in releasing digestible amino acids and energy in a maize and soybean-based diet. The performance and carcass traits of the broilers that received different inclusion levels of phytase were also evaluated. The treatments consisted of two basal diets. Basal diet one was the standard commercial diet fulfilling the requirements of the bird while basal diet two had a 3% reduction in metabolisable energy and digestible amino acids. The enzyme complex Rovabio Advance T-Flex® were added to treatments 2, 4, 6 and 8 with no enzyme inclusion in the other treatments. Phytase was supplemented at three different levels. Treatments 1, 2, 7 and 8 received 1000 FTU; treatments 3 and 4 received 1500 FTU; and treatments 5 and 6 received 2000 FTU. The production parameters of the standard nutrient diets showed no improvement with the addition of the enzyme complex. An improvement in body weight gain, feed intake and feed conversion ratio were observed in the reduced nutrient treatments that was supplemented with the enzyme complex, compared to those without any enzyme inclusion. There was no observed difference in production parameters or carcass traits between the treatments receiving different inclusion levels of phytase, with and without the enzyme complex supplementation. From the present study it can be concluded that production parameters can be improved with the addition of the enzyme complex Rovabio Advance T-Flex® in maize and soybean meal diets when diets are fed containing reduced levels of metabolisable energy and digestible amino acids. No benefit was observed when increasing the dose of phytase above the level of 1000 FTU.Animal and Wildlife SciencesMSc (Agric) Animal Science: Animal NutritionUnrestricte