Enhancing broiler performance and nutrient digestibility with a multienzyme additive in wheat-soyabean meal based diets

APPLICATION
A targeted approach to enhance fibre degradation in wheat-based diets is needed to release additional energy, reduce the anti-nutritive effects of arabinoxylans, and improve overall nutrient utilisation.

INTRODUCTION
Wheat-based diets contain substantial amounts of arabinoxylans and other non-starch polysaccharides that increase digesta viscosity and limit nutrient utilisation in broilers. Exogenous carbohydrases such as xylanase and arabinofuranosidase are widely used to hydrolyse fibre fractions, reduce anti-nutritive effects, and improve energy release from cereal-based diets. This study evaluated the efficacy of a multienzyme additive providing xylanase and arabinofuranosidase on growth performance and nutrient digestibility in broilers fed wheat-soybean meal diets.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
A total of 576 male day-old Ross 308 broilers were allocated to two dietary treatments (T1 and T2). The basal diet (T1) met breed nutrient requirements (Aviagen, 2022), and T2 consisted of the basal diet supplemented with a multienzyme additive (supplied by Adisseo France) at 100 g/tonne, providing 200 DNS units of endo-1,4-β-xylanase/kg feed and 600 FU of α-L-arabinofuranosidase/kg feed; the liquid enzyme was sprayed post pelleting. All diets were wheat-soyabean meal-based. Each treatment had 16 replicate pens with 18 birds/pen in a randomised complete block design. Birds received crumbs in the starter phase (d0–10) and pellets in the grower (d10–21) and finisher (d21–35) phases, with titanium dioxide included only in grower diets as an indigestible marker. Feed and water were offered ad libitum. Average daily gain (ADG), average daily feed intake (ADFI), and feed conversion ratio (FCR) were measured for d0–10, d10–21, d21–35, and d0–35. Faecal material collected over five days at day 21 was pooled, frozen, freeze-dried, and analysed for dry matter, gross energy, and titanium to determine dry matter, gross energy, and apparent metabolisable energy (AME) digestibility. Data were analysed using Analysis of Variance (GenStat 24) with significance at P<0.05. All procedures were approved by Food Standards Scotland and SRUC’s Animal Welfare and Ethical Review Body (AEX 2024-022 POU).

RESULTS
Birds fed T2 showed a 4.8% increase in ADG and a 3.2% improvement in FCR compared with T1, while DMD rose by 11.4% and energy digestibility by 9.2%, leading to a 1.541 MJ/kg increase in AME, as summarised in Table 1.

Table 1. Effect of a multienzyme additive on growth performance and dry matter and energy digestibility in broilers.
Treatment ABW
Growth performance
(kg/bird/day) Faecal digestibility
kg/bird ADG ADFI FCR DMD
coefficient Energy digestibility (%) AME (MJ/kg)
D 35 Days 0-35 D 21
T1: Control 2.417 0.067 0.101 1.500 0.687 73.56 14.65
T2:T1 + multienzyme additive 2.530 0.071 0.103 1.452 0.765 80.37 16.19
SED 0.021 0.001 0.001 0.008 0.006 0.065 0.120
P-Value <0.001 <0.001 0.103 <0.001 <0.001 <0.001 <0.001
ABW = Average body weight; ADG = Average daily gain; ADFI = Average daily feed intake; FCR = Feed conversion ratio (feed:gain); DMD = Dry matter digestibility; AME = Apparent metabolisable energy; n = 16/treatment: D = day; SED = Standard Error of Difference; P-values = Significantly different if P  0.05.

CONCLUSION
Supplementing broiler diets with the multienzyme additive improved growth performance and increased dry matter and energy digestibilities. These gains indicate more effective fibre degradation and greater nutrient release. Collectively, the results support the use of this multienzyme additive in wheat-soybean meal-based diets as a practical approach to enhance broiler productivity and sustainability in commercial settings.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We thank Adisseo France S.A.S for financial support and Allermuir staff and students for bird maintenance and technical support. SRUC receives support from the Scottish Government (RESAS).

REFERENCES
Aviagen. 2022. Ross 308 Broiler Nutrition Specifications. Aviagen Ltd Newbridge UK.