The effect of protease and xylanase enzymes on growth performance and nutrient digestibility in finisher pigs

Abstract

Two 2 × 2 factorial experiments were conducted to investigate the interaction between xylanase (0 vs. 200 mg/kg) and protease (0 vs. 200 mg/kg) enzyme supplementation on growth performance (Exp. 1) and coefficient of ileal and total tract apparent digestibility in grower-finisher pigs (Exp. 2). One hundred and twenty-eight individual fed pigs (BW = 34.2 kg; n = 32) were assigned to 1 of 4 dietary treatments: basal diet (T1), T1 + xylanase enzyme (T2), T1 + protease enzyme (T3), or T1 + xylanase + protease enzymes (T4). The pigs offered diets containing protease enzymes had reduced daily gain (0.795 vs. 0.840 kg/d; P < 0.05) and final body weight (96.4 vs. 99.1 kg; P < 0.05) compared to pigs offered diets without protease enzymes. Pigs offered xylanase-supplemented diets had reduced daily gain (0.787 vs. 0.848 kg/d; P < 0.05) compared to pigs offered diets without xylanase enzymes. In Exp. 2, the nutrient digestibility experiment consisted of 24 intact male pigs (n = 6; BW = 78 kg), offered identical diets to that offered in Exp. 1. Following the fecal collections, the pigs were slaughtered and digesta samples were taken from the ileum in order to measure apparent ileal N and GE digestibilities. Pigs offered diets supplemented with protease had increased coefficients of ileal digestibility of N compared to pigs offered diets without protease supplementation (0.583 vs. 0.449; P < 0.05). There was a xylanase × protease interaction (P < 0.05) on the apparent ileal digestibility of GE. Pigs offered diets containing protease only had increased apparent ileal digestibility of GE compared to basal fed pigs; however, the ileal digestibility of GE decreased when protease was combined with xylanase. Neither xylanase nor protease enzymes had any effect on total tract digestibility of GE or N. In conclusion, xylanase and protease enzyme supplementation had no positive effects on grower-finisher pig performance.

Addition of a protease to low crude protein density diets of broiler chickens

“…Addition of a protease to the diet of broiler chickens has been helpful in optimizing the digestion of undigested protein passing through GIT (Parsons et al 1997;Wang and Parsons 1998;Lemme et al 2004;Angel et al 2011). Some researchers have reported that the addition of protease to swine diet can improve their growth performance (Wang et al 2011;Guggenbuhl et al 2012;McAlpine et al 2012). Our findings showed that the BWG and FCR of chickens fed with low CP diet supplemented with either 0.05% or 0.1% of protease were significantly improved.…”

Supplementation of protease, alone and in combination with fructooligosaccharide to low protein diet for finishing pigs

“…However, in several previous studies, no beneficial effects of addition of exogenous protease on growth performance were observed (Thacker ; Mc Alpine et al . ). O'Shea et al .…”

Enzyme supplementation to improve the nutritional value of fibrous feed ingredients in swine diets fed in dry or liquid form1

“…The results found in the current study are supported by , who reported a negative impact of xylanase addition to liquid feed fermented for 1 h on energy digestibility in weaned pigs. Most of the studies that evaluated the supplementation of NSP enzymes in DDGS-based diets in growing pigs did not report improvements in nutrient digestibility (Mc Alpine et al, 2012;Diebold et al, 2004;Zijlstra et al, 2004).…”