The effect of enzyme addition in diets on the basis of corn, barley and wheat on carcass quality and broiler performance

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of enzyme on performance and carcass quality of Arian chicks. The broiler diets were based on corn, barley and wheat. Seven hundred twenty straight run broilers were randomly allocated to 8 dietary treatments in a CRD design with 3 replicates and 30 birds per each. The experimental diets were based on corn, corn with enzyme, barley with enzyme, wheat with enzyme, corn and barley with enzyme, corn and wheat with enzyme, barley and wheat with enzyme, corn, barley and wheat with enzyme. Birds received feed and water ad libitum throughout the experiment. Body weight, feed intake, feed conversion ratio and mortality were measured at the end of starter, grower and finisher periods. Carcass characteristics, digestive tract weight and length were determined at the end of the experiment. The results of this experiment showed the significant differences in body weight and feed intake at all periods (P<0.05). Feed conversion ratio was significantly affected in starter and grower periods (P<0.05). Breast meat and thigh yield did not differ but carcass yield was significantly different between barley with enzyme and corn and barley with enzyme treatments and livability was significantly different between corn and wheat with enzyme and corn, wheat and barley with enzyme treatments (P<0.05). The gizzard, liver, pancreas and abdominal fat proportion to live body weight were not different among treatments. Duodenum, jejunum and ileum weight but not length were significantly different among treatments (P<0.05). The result gives an impression that adding enzymes to these cereals has been shown to improve performance to levels at least as high as those obtained with corn based diet. It is indicated that the negative effects of anti-nutritive factors in the diets on the performance of broiler were overcome by addition of enzymes.