Effect of supplementing non-starch polysaccharide hydrolyzing enzymes in guar meal based diets on performance, carcass variables and bone mineralization in Vanaraja chicken

Abstract

The aim of the experiment was to find out the possibility of feeding higher levels of guar meal (GM) to the Vanarajabirds through dietary supplementation. During the experiment-I, 432 day-old Vanaraja chicks were selected and distributed into 72 battery brooder pens (replicates) as per complete randomized design. The chicks received diets containing without GM and enzyme supplementation (ES) (diet-I), diet-I plus ES (diet-II), 7.5% GM without ES (diet-III), 7.5% GM plus ES (diet-IV), 15% GM without ES (diet-V) and 15% GM plus ES (diet-VI). The ES (1×) premix provided xylanase 3250, glucanase 1200, cellulose 890, mannanase 4000 and protease 4000 unit/kg diet. Inclusion of GM up to 7.5% with or without enzymes supplementation did not influence the body weight (BW) and feed efficiency. However, supplementation of 15% GM with or without ES significantly (P<0.01) depressed the body weight gain and FCR at 21 days, but not at 42 days of age. During the experiment-II, 420 day-old Vanaraja chicks were distributed randomly into 70 battery brooder pens having 7 treatments with 10 replicates. The chicks received diets with and without 20% GM along with incremental levels of ES (0.5× to 2.5×). Inclusion of 20% GM without ES significantly (P<0.01) depressed the body weight and FCR. However, diet with 2×ES with 20% GM appeared to have higher body weight and better FCR at 42 days of age. Liver fat and tibia ash were higher (P<0.01) in groups fed 20% GM supplemented diets. These results indicated that, feeding chicks with 20% GM with 2×ES resulted in improved performance compared to other 20% GM supplemented dietary groups at 42 day of age. Therefore, it has been concluded that GM can be incorporated up to 15% in Vanaraja diet without affecting the performance at 42 days of age. Guar meal at 200g/kg supplementation resulted in depression in performance. However, supplementation of NSP hydrolyzing enzymes improved the performance of Vanaraja birds compared to those fed 200g GM /kg without enzymes.