title: Growth and intestinal morphology of male turkeys as influenced by dietary supplementation of amylase and xylanase.
abstract: Three diets, a control and two diets supplemented with an enzyme cocktail premix containing either amylase or xylanase, were each fed to 100 male poults (10 replicates of 10 poults per pen) from 0 to 5 wk of age to observe the effects upon body weight gain, feed intake, and feed efficiency. The amylase-supplemented diet significantly increased feed efficiency through the first 2 wk and significantly increased body weight gain and feed intake through the first 3 wk. Xylanase supplementation did not improve growth or feed efficiency over the control. Mean villus length within the jejunum and ileum was significantly increased at 2 and 3 wk of age by dietary supplementation of amylase when compared with the control and xylanase diets. These findings suggest that the increased growth associated with the amylase diet during 0 to 3 wk can, in part, be explained by the increase in absorptive surface area, allowing for increased digestion of available nutrients coupled with increased enzyme activity for carbohydrate degradation from the supplemental enzymes.
mesh_terms: D000681:Amylases / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000821:Animal Feed; D000818:Animals; D001835:Body Weight / Q000187:drug effects; D004435:Eating / Q000187:drug effects; D004734:Energy Metabolism / Q000187:drug effects; D005527:Food, Fortified; D007422:Intestines / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000187:drug effects*; D008297:Male; D014422:Turkeys / Q000254:growth & development; D043325:Xylan Endo-1,3-beta-Xylosidase; D014995:Xylosidases / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D000681:Amylases; D014995:Xylosidases; D043325:Xylan Endo-1,3-beta-Xylosidase