Feed remains the most important cost in animal production. The need for feed ingredients, which will reduce the cost of production, is the basis for most livestock feed and production research. Man and his livestock are in competition for the basic ingredients. Availability of such feed ingredients thus becomes the key limiting factor in poultry production, hence the need for alternative and locally available feedstuffs. The presence of undegradable and complex carbohydrate, non-starch polysaccharides (NSPs) in some alternative and locally available feedstuffs exerts some anti-nutritional properties and thus can limit their use in livestock feeding (Yoruk et al., 2006). Worse still is the fact that chickens are not capable of hydrolyzing NSPs that mask protein carbohydrate (Petterson and Aman, 1989). Exogenous enzyme supplementation has been reported to be used in poultry diets to improve nutrient utilization, the health and welfare of the birds, product quality and to reduce pollution as well as to increase the choice and content of ingredients which are acceptable for inclusion in diets (Aderemi et al., 2006). Since most work with exogenous enzymes has been carried out to evaluate its effect on feed intake and growth characteristics of broilers, the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of graded level of feed enzyme Roxazyme-G® on the performance, carcass and meat qualities of broiler finishers.
Tracing metabolic routes of feed ingredients in tissues of broiler chickens using stable isotopes
