Abstract
A study involving one hundred and forty four, 5-week old chicks of Marshal breed was conducted on the performance and apparent digestibility of the finisher broilers fed enzyme “Hamacozyme®” fortified dried rumen digesta (EDRD) based diets for 3weeks. Four broiler finisher diets were formulated incorporating dried rumen digesta meal fortified with Hamacozyme (an exogenous enzyme at 0.20%) at 0, 10, 20 and 30% dietary levels respectively. The finisher broiler chicks were divided into four groups of 36 birds each and randomly assigned to the four dietary treatments in a completely randomized design. Body weight gain and feed intake increased as EDRD increased in the diets and were superior (p<0.05) to the group on control (0% EDRD) diet. The feed conversion ratio of birds fed EDRD diets were better than control group (p<0.05). Nevertheless, the result of digestibility study confirmed that nutrients of the EDRD diets were well utilized by the finisher broiler birds, and resulted in higher growth performance and lower cost per kilogram weight gain comparatively. The results from this study showed that “Hamacozyme®” fortified dried rumen digesta can be incorporated in diets of broiler finisher birds up to 30% dietary level with enhanced performance and cost effective broiler production.
