PERFORMANCE AND NUTRIENT DIGESTIBILITY OF BROILER CHICKENS FED FERMENTED SHEA BUTTER CAKE BASED DIETS WITH SUPPLEMENTAL NUTRIZYME® (COCKTAIL OF ENYZMES+PROBIOTICS)

Abstract

A 28-day feeding trial was conducted to evaluate the growth performance and nutrient digestibility of broilers fed fermented shea butter cake meal (FSBCM) with cocktail of enzyme+probiotic (Nutrizyme® ) supplementation. A total of 240, 4-week old broiler chickens were distributed into 4 treatments with 5 replications of 12 birds each using a completely randomized design. The 4 treatments comprised T1 as control diet without FSBCM; T2 contained 20% FSBCM replacing maize in control diet; T3 and T4 contained T2diet with 0.05% and 0.1% supplemental Nutrizyme, respectively. Each 100g of Nutrizyme contains protease, xylanase, lipase and Lactobacillus acidophilus. Performance parameters measured were body weight, feed intake, weight gain, and feed:gain ratio. At the end of feeding trial, 3 birds per replicate were selected and placed in a metabolic cage for nutrient digestibility trial. Data collected were statistically analyzed using one way analysis of variance (ANOVA) of general linear model procedures of SAS (2012) software package and treatment means differences were separated using Turkey test.The result showed that higher (P<0.05) weight gain was obtained in birds fed control and T3 diets and improved (P<0.05) feed:gain was obtained in T3 diets group. Feed cost/kg gain was lowest (P<0.05) in T3 and T4 diet. Crude protein, crude fiber and crude fat digestibility were similar (p>0.05) among control, T3 and T4 groups but higher (p<0.05) than T2 group. In conclusion, minimum inclusion of 0.05% supplemental Nutrizyme improved performance and digestibility of nutrients with lower feed cost/kg gain in broiler finisher chickens fed FSBCM based diets.