The variation in chemical composition of barley feed with or without enzyme supplementation influences nutrient digestibility and subsequently affects performance in piglets

Summary This study investigates the effect of dietary supplementation of a β‐glucanase and β‐xylanase enzyme mix to barley based diets, at two different chemical compositions achieved through different agronomical conditions on growth performance, coefficient of apparent total tract digestibility (CATTD) of nutrients, selected faecal microbial populations and faecal scores in piglets. Sixty‐four piglets (11.7 kg (SD 0.96)) housed in pens of two were assigned to one of four dietary treatments (n = 8). The dietary treatments were as follows: (T1) low quality barley diet, (T2) low quality barley diet containing a β‐glucanase and β‐xylanase enzyme supplement, (T3) high quality barley diet and (T4) high quality barley diet containing a β‐glucanase and β‐xylanase enzyme supplement. Piglets offered the low quality barley‐based diet had a higher (p