Enzyme Supplementation of Broiler Feeds with Reduced Mineral and Energy Levels

An experiment was conducted with the purpose of evaluating enzyme blends on the performance, carcass traits, and bone mineralization of broilers. In total, 928 one-day-old Cobb 500 male chicks of were used. A completely randomized design with four treatments with eight replicates of 29 birds each was adopted. The evaluated treatments were: 1- Positive Control (PC), feed containing the nutritional recommendations of the genetic company's manual; 2- Negative Control (NC), feed with reductions of 75 kcal/kg AME and 0.10 and 0.12 percent points of phosphorus and calcium, respectively; 3 - NC + enzyme blend (amylase + b-glucanase, xylanase, and phytase; 250 g/t of feed) and 4 - NC + enzyme complex (phytase, amylase, xylanase, glucanase, pectinase, cellulase, and protease; 200 g/t of feed). Birds fed the diet with reduced nutrient levels (NC) presented the worst performance (p 0.05) carcass or parts yields. The broilers fed the reduced-nutrient and energy diet presented lower (p<0.05) tibial ash, calcium, and phosphorus contents that the other treatments. The use of enzyme combinations improved the performance of broilers fed diets with reduced nutrient and energy levels.