AUTHOR=Nusairat Basheer , Wang Jeng-Jie 

TITLE=The Effect of a Modified GH11 Xylanase on Live Performance, Gut Health, and Clostridium perfringens Excretion of Broilers Fed Corn-Soy Diets

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Veterinary Science

VOLUME=Volume 8 - 2021

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/veterinary-science/articles/10.3389/fvets.2021.678536

DOI=10.3389/fvets.2021.678536

ISSN=2297-1769

ABSTRACT=Xylanase enzymes and other feed additives are being used more commonly in poultry feed to reduce feed cost, improve performance and maintain gut health. Five corn-soy-based dietary treatments were designed to compare the effect of different inclusion levels of high-efficiency GH11 xylanase on live performance, gut lesions, and environmental Clostridium perfringens load of broiler chickens. Diets were: standard diet (Positive control; PC); reduced energy by 130 kcal/kg diet (Negative control; NC); NC with xylanase at 10 XU/g of feed (NC+10); NC with xylanase at 12.5 XU/g of feed (NC+12.5); xylanase at 15 XU/g of feed (NC+15). Data were analyzed as one-way ANOVA. At 42 d, birds fed NC+12.5 and NC+15 were heavier (P<0.05) than NC and comparable to birds fed PC. Significant Improvement in FCR (P=0.0001) was observed from 1-42 d for NC+12.5 and NC+15 compared to NC. Supplementation of xylanase reduced (P<0.005) 21 d intestinal lesion score with further improvement (P<0.0001) at 42 d. NC+15 reduced lesion scores by 24% compared to NC. Xylanase supplementations reduced litter C. perfringens cell count compared to NC with the highest reduction of NC+15 treatment by approximately 27%. In conclusion, xylanase can be included in reduced-energy diets up to 15 XU/g of feed to improve live performance, energy digestibility, and reduce intestinal lesion scores in broilers.