The effects of propionic acid and exogenous phytase on growth performance and nutrient digestibility of broiler

An experiment was conducted to determine the effects of supplementing Phosphorus-deficient corn-soybean meal diet with supplementation of phytase and propionic acid on growth performance and nutrient utilization in completely randomized design. A total One hundred twenty 1-d-old male broiler chicks of the Arian strain were assigned to 4 dietary treatments، consisting of 12 pens of 10 birds each، and were fed experimental diets from 8 to 21 d of age. The experimental diets consisted of: 1) diet deficient in available phosphorus (negative control) 2) negative control+phytase (300 FTU) 3) negative control + propionic acid + phytase 4) diet with adequate available phosphorus (positive control). The negative control diet was the same as the positive control diet except that the non phytate P levels were 0. 141 VS 0. 38 percentages. Birds fed the positive control diet had higher growth performance and nutrient digestibility than those fed the negative control diet (P < 0. 05). Phytase improved Body weight gain and feed intake (P < 0. 05). The addition of propionic acid to the phytase-supplemented low-Phosphorus diets improved growth performance (P < 0. 05). Phytase improved ileal dry matter، energy and phosphorus digestibility (P < 0. 05). The addition of propionic acid to the phytase-supplemented low-Phosphorus diets did not affect (P >0. 05) on ileal digestibility of dry matter، energy and phosphorus، but improved ileal digestibility of protein (P < 0. 05). Our results indicate that the addition of propionic acid to the low-Phosphorus diets can improve broiler growth performance.