Effect of enzymolytic soybean meal supplementation on performance, nitrogen excretion, serum biochemical parameters and intestinal morphology in broilers fed low-protein diets

Abstract

Objective The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of supplementation with enzymolytic soybean meal (ESBM) on broilers fed low crude protein (CP) diets. Methods A total of 360 one-day-old broilers were randomly assigned to six treatments with 6 replicates per treatment and 10 chicks per replicate for a period of 42 days. Chicks were fed a basal standard high-CP diet as a positive control (PC), a low-CP diet (reducing 10 g/kg CP from the PC) as a negative control (NC), or an NC + 0.5%, 1.0%, 1.5%, or 2.0% ESBM diet. Results Compared to chicks fed the PC, chicks fed the NC had a decreased body weight gain (BWG, p0.05) serum concentrations of total protein, albumin and total cholesterol but led to a descending trend in triglycerides and an ascending trend in calcium and urea N at 42 days (p0.05) in villus height (VH), crypt depth (CD), and VH/CD (V/C) of the duodenum and jejunum between the PC and NC at both 21 days and 42 days, while increasing dietary ESBM levels linearly (p<0.05) decreased CD and increased V/C of the duodenum and jejunum at both 21 days and 42 days. Conclusion The findings indicated that ESBM could be used in broiler low-CP diets to improve production performance, decrease N excretion, and enhance intestinal health.

Keywords

• chicken
• enzymolytic soybean meal
• growth performance
• intestinal health
• low crude protein diet
• nitrogen excretion