Effect of supplementing non-starch polysaccharide hydrolyzing enzymes in guar meal based diets on performance, carcass variables and bone mineralization in Vanaraja chicken

The aim of the experiment was to find out the possibility of utilizing guar meal (GM) as a source of protein in Vanaraja chicken diet. In experiment-I, 432 one day-old Vanaraja chicks were distributed into 72 battery brooder pens (replicates) as per complete randomized design. The chicks received soybean meal (SBM) based control diet containing 10.9 MJ metabolizable energy (ME) and 200 g protein per kg. Another two basal diets (BD) containing two levels of GM (75 and 150 g/kg) were prepared with similar ME and protein levels of the control diet. The three diets were fed either without or with an enzyme premix (xylanase 3250, glucanase 1200, cellulase 890, mannanase 4000 and protease 4000 unit/kg diet) from 1 to 42 days of age. Inclusion of GM at 75 g/kg with or without enzymes supplementation resulted in similar body weight (BW) gain (BWG) and feed efficiency with that of control diet. However, supplementation of GM at 150 g/kg with or without enzyme premix (P<0.01) depressed the BWG and feed conversion ratio (FCR) at 21 days, but not at 42 days of age. In Experiment-II, 420 one day-old Vanaraja chicks were distributed randomly into 70 battery brooder pens having 7 treatments with 10 replicates. The chicks received SBM based control diet containing 10.9 MJ ME and 200 g protein/kg. Another BD containing 200 g/kg of GM was prepared with similar ME and protein level of the control diet. Further, five BDs with GM 200 g/kg diets were fed with incremental levels of enzyme premix. Inclusion of 200 g GM/kg without enzyme supplementation significantly (P<0.01) depressed the BWG and FCR. However, diet with incremental levels of enzyme supplements along with 200 g GM/kg appeared to have higher BW compared to the GM control diet at 42 days of age. Liver fat and protein were higher (P<0.01) in groups fed 200 g GM/kg supplemented diets compared to those fed SBM based control diet. These results indicated that, feeding chicks with 200 g GM/kg diet with incremental levels of enzyme supplements resulted in improved performance compared to other 200 g GM/kg supplemented dietary groups at 42 day of age. Therefore, it has been concluded that GM can be incorporated up to 150 g/kg in Vanaraja diet without affecting the performance at 42 days of age. Guar meal at 200 g/kg supplementation resulted in depression in performance. However, supplementation of non-starch polysaccharide hydrolyzing enzymes improved the performance of Vanaraja birds compared to those fed 200 g GM/kg without enzymes.