Effect of exogenus protease on performance, nutrient digestibility, intestinal histomorphometric, meat quality characteristics, carcass yield in broilers fed low protein diets

Tropical Animal Health and Production (2023) 55:190 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11250-023-03562-y REGULAR ARTICLES Effect of exogenus protease on performance, nutrient digestibility, intestinal histomorphometric, meat quality characteristics, carcass yield in broilers fed low protein diets C. F. Duque‑Ramírez1 · J. A. Javierre2 · L. M. Peñuela‑Sierra1 · M. Diaz‑Vargas3 Received: 20 October 2022 / Accepted: 29 March 2023 © The Author(s) 2023 Abstract The objective of the present study was to evaluate the effects of increasing doses of protease on broilers from 1 to 42 days of age. A total of 1290 Ross AP broilers were used, distributed among five treatments: positive control diet, negative control diet (NC), NC + 50 ppm of protease, NC + 100 ppm of protease, and NC + 200 ppm of protease. Each treatment contained six replicates of 43 animals each. The inclusion of proteases in the diet had effects (P < 0.05) on body weight, feed intake, weight gain, and feed conversion in the 12 to 21 day period; body weight, weight gain, and feed intake in the 29 to 42 day period; nutrient digestibility (energy metabolizability coefficient and crude protein at 28 days); and intestinal parameters (crypt and muscle width of jejunum and ileum at 28 days and villus length, crypt length, and jejunum thickness muscle layer at 42 days). These results indicate that the inclusion of protease in broiler feed can improve production parameters when the amount of crude protein in the diet is reduced. Keywords Protein · Metabolizable energy · Villous · Growth · Crypt Introduction Poultry is the livestock that provides most of the animal protein for consumption, according to the data given by FENAVI (National Federation of Poultry Farmers of Colombia), in Colombia approximately 1,620,000 tons of broiler consumption are produced per year, which reflects an increase in production and distribution. The growth figure of the poultry sector in 2019 was 4.0%; since the total demand for chicken reached 842 million units, with a monthly average of 70.1 million. The percentage of digestible protein in broilers is approximately 80% to 85%, lower than that of starch, * M. Diaz‑Vargas 1 Facultad de Ciencias Agropecuarias, Semillero de investigación SINA, Universidad del Tolima, 730006299, Ibagué, Colombia 2 Científico de Tekzol SAS, Bogotá D.C., Colombia 3 Facultad de Ciencias Agropecuarias, Universidad de Ciencias Aplicadas y Ambientales (U.D.C.A), 111166 Bogotá D.C., Colombia which is 90% (Zanella et al., 1999), indicating that not all of the protein in the diet is utilized in the gastrointestinal tract, and a small fraction of this is excreted in the feces following the digestive process (Glitso et al., 2012). The undigested protein in the intestine can be transformed by the intestinal microbiota into harmful compounds, such as ammonium, or in the soil into nitrite and nitrous oxide (Weir et al., 2017), which has economic and environmental impact. Therefore, crude protein has been the subject of multiple studies seeking to minimize its inclusion in poultry feed (Borda-Molina et al., 2019) by improving digestibility. Therefore, there is great market interest in taking advantage of undigested protein through the addition of exogenous enzymes such as proteases (Grimes, 2011), favoring the formulation of balanced feed with lower protein levels and thus reducing the cost of the diet (Ding et al., (2016). We aimed of the present study was to investigate the effects of protease at different levels (50, 100 and 200 ppm) on a protein and energy deficient diet and whether this would enhance broiler performance, nutrient digestibility, intestinal histomorphometric parameters, color parameters of meat, carcass yield and cut yield strength in poultry. 13 Vol.:(0123456789) 190 Page 2 of 8 Materials and methods Tropical Animal Health and Production Table 1  Ingredients and Nutritional composition of the basal diets Birds management and housing All experimental procedures in this research were conducted under the guidelines of the Animal Care and Use Committee of Department of Animal Science of University of Applied and Environmental Sciences U.D.C.A., Bogotá D.C., Colombia. The experiments were carried out in the Poultry Farming Sector at the Experimental Farm of Tolima University. A total of 1290, 1-day-old birds Ross AP male broiler divided into five groups with six replicates, were raised in a semi-heated shed, in floor pens of 3.58 m2 (12 birds/m2) with rice husk as litter and equipped with one feeder and one drinker each. The temperature was maintained at 32ºC at placement and was gradually reduced to ensure comfort by using heater, fans, and nebulizers. The lighting program throughout the study consisted of 23 h of light and 1 h of darkness. Feed was provided in mash form, and birds had free access to feed and water libitum throughout the whole experimental period. Performance At 28 and 42 d, an approximately 2 cm length of each segment of the small intestine (duodenum, jejunum, and 13 Grower (Day 1—21) (Day 22—42) Yellow corn 55,01 59,81 Soybean meal 48% 29,86 24,72 Corn gluten meal 60% 6 5 Palm oil 4,07 6,08 DCP 2,19 1,76 Limestone 0,825 0,91 Vit-Min Premix 0,6a DL methionine 99% 0,34 0,6b 0,25 Salt 0,24 0,24 Lysine HCl 98% 0,4 0,28 Sodium bicarbonate 0,2 0,15 Choline chloride60% 0,1 0,1 L-threonine 0,12 0,07 Nutrients The diets were: a control diet (CD) diet meeting all nutritional requirements (Table 1), a negative control diet (NC; diet with -1.0% PB and AA and -50 kcal/kg ME at each stage), NC diet + 50 ppm protease, NC diet + 100 ppm protease, and NC diet + 200 ppm protease. The protease, produced by Aspergillus Niger, was concentrated, granulated, and thermostable. 4-phase feeding was provided, according to the commercial recommendation that is handled in the country. All chicks were fed ad libitum with chick starter crumbs for the first 11 days(pre-starter), and chick feed between 12 and 21 days (starter) and chicken feed between 22 and 28 days (broiler I) and finisher diet between 29 and 42 days (broiler II or finisher). An acidresistant ash source (Celite) was added at 1% to all diets. Intestinal morphometry and digestibility Start Ingredients (kg) Treatments and diets Broilers and feed were weighed at 1, 11, 21, 28, and 42 days of age to evaluate performance, which was measured as the feed intake, weight gain, and the feed conversion ratio Mortality was recorded. At 28 and 42 d, twelve birds were selected per treatment (mean ± 5%) stunned by electroshock, and euthanized by decapitation. (2023) 55:190 EM Poultry (kcal/kg) 3050 3200 Crude protein (%) 22,25 19,5 Ether extract (%) 6,216 8,17 Linoleic acid (%) 1,475 1,7 Crude fiber (%) 2,305 2,22 Starch (%) 36,995 39,25 Ash (%) 6,94 6,28 Calcium (%) 0,875 0,8 Available P (%) 0,46 0,39 Chloride (%) 0,26 0,25 Sodium (%) 0,195 0,17 Potassium (%) 0,85 0,76 Acid (...truncated)