Effect of phytase and protease combination on performance, metabolizable energy, and amino acid digestibility of broilers fed nutrient-restricted diets

ABSTRACT Three experiments were carried out to evaluate the effect of dietary combination of different enzymes (phytase + protease) on performance, metabolizable energy, and amino acid digestibility of broiler chickens fed diets with nutritional reduction. A total of 1,400, 336, and 384 male chickens were distributed in a completely randomized design, in the experiments of performance, metabolism, and digestibility, respectively. Treatments were divided as follows: positive control (PC), negative control - NC1 (PC minus 0.16% Ca, 0.15% available P (aP), and 0.5% crude protein (CP)), NC2 (PC minus 0.16% Ca, 0.15% aP, and 1% CP), NC1 added with phytase deriving from citrobacter and protease deriving from Bacillus licheniformis (CBE), NC1 added with phytase deriving from E. coli and protease deriving from microbial fermentation (SE), NC2 added with CBE, and NC2 added with SE. A protein-free diet was included in the digestibility experiment. The nutritional restriction did not affect feed intake of birds in the first experiment; however, the restriction inhibited body weight gain and feed conversion ratio in all phases. In experiment 2, the nutritional restriction decreased AME and AMEn values, although the addition of phytase and protease in diets improved both parameters, mainly in NC2. Treatment NC2 impaired the standardized digestibility of total essential amino acids of animals subjected to experiment 3, although the addition of enzymes helped to recover the digestibility to levels similar to PC. Supplementation of phytase in association with protease is effective to improve performance, energy metabolism, and standardized amino acid digestibility of broilers fed diets with nutrient restriction.