Xylanase supplementation improves the nutritive value of diets containing high levels of sorghum distillers' dried grains with solubles for broiler chickens

BACKGROUND An experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of sorghum distillers' dried grains with solubles ( sDDGS ) and xylanase supplementation in broiler chicken diets. A total of 432 Cobb‐500 day‐old male broiler chicks were used in a 4 × 2 factorial design (0, 100, 200 or 300 g kg −1 sDDGS with or without xylanase supplementation). Each treatment was replicated six times with nine birds per replicate in a 35 day study.RESULTS Feed intake was increased ( P  < 0.001) throughout the study with the inclusion of dietary sDDGS . Body weight gain ( BWG ) was unaffected except for the last 2 weeks of study, when birds that received 200 and 300 g kg −1 sDDGS had higher ( P  < 0.001) BWG . Feed conversion ratio ( FCR ) increased ( P  < 0.05) as sDDGS in the diet rose to 100 g kg −1 during the starter phase and the whole period of study. Over the starter period, xylanase supplementation improved ( P  < 0.05) FCR , particularly for the highest inclusion of sDDGS . Protein digestibility deteriorated ( P  < 0.001) as sDDGS in the diet rose to 300 g kg −1 . Xylanase reduced ( P  < 0.001) the concentration of xylose in the ileum of birds. The activities of sucrase and maltase in the jejunal mucosa were reduced when birds were offered 200 and 300 g kg −1 sDDGS . Incorporation of sDDGS increased ( P  < 0.01) the total short‐chain fatty acid concentration in the caeca.CONCLUSION The results showed that diets containing large amounts of sDDGS will benefit from xylanase supplementation, particularly in terms of FCR . © 2012 Society of Chemical Industry