title: Effects of maize source and complex enzymes on performance and nutrient utilization of broilers.
abstract: The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of maize source and complex enzymes containing amylase, xylanase and protease on performance and nutrient utilization of broilers. The experiment was a 4×3 factorial design with diets containing four source maize samples (M1, M2, M3, and M4) and without or with two kinds of complex enzyme A (Axtra XAP) and B (Avizyme 1502). Nine hundred and sixty day old Arbor Acres broiler chicks were used in the trial (12 treatments with 8 replicate pens of 10 chicks). Birds fed M1 diet had better body weight gain (BWG) and lower feed/gain ratio compared with those fed M3 diet and M4 diet (p<0.05). Apparent ileal crude protein digestibility coefficient of M2 was higher than that of M3 (p<0.05). Apparent metabolisable energy (AME) and nitrogen corrected AME (AMEn) of M1 were significant higher than those of M4 (p<0.05). Supplementation of the basal diets with enzyme A or B improved the BWG by 8.6% (p<0.05) and 4.1% (p>0.05), respectively. The fresh feces output was significantly decreased by the addition of enzyme B (p<0.05). Maize source affects the nutrients digestibility and performance of broilers, and a combination of amylase, xylanase and protease is effective in improving the growth profiles of broilers fed maize-soybean-rapeseed-cotton mixed diets.
authors.affiliation: Gansu Academy Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou 730070, China .
authors.forename: Defu
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: Gansu Academy Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou 730070, China .
authors.forename: Shengyan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hao
authors.affiliation: Feed Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China .
authors.forename: Guohua
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Gansu Academy Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou 730070, China .
authors.forename: Fang
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Nian
authors.affiliation: Gansu Academy Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou 730070, China .
authors.forename: Yingjun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ru
keywords: Broiler; Complex Enzyme; Growth Performance; Maize; Nutrient Digestibility