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This study investigated the effect of dietary Ca to available P (AvP) ratio and phytase supplementation on bone ash, ileal phytate degradation, and nutrient digestibility in broilers fed corn-based diets. The experimental design was a 4 × 2 factorial arrangement of treatments evaluating 4 Ca:AvP ratios (1.43, 2.14, 2.86, and 3.57) and 2 levels of phytase (0 and 1,000 phytase units/kg of feed). The 4 Ca:AvP ratios were achieved by formulating all diets to a constant AvP level of 0.28% and varying Ca levels (0.4, 0.6, 0.8, and 1.0%). Each treatment was fed to 6 cages of 8 male Ross 308 broilers from 5 to 21 d. At 21 d, digesta from the terminal ileum was collected and analyzed for energy, phytate, P, Ca, and amino acids (AA) to determine digestibility. Digesta pH was measured in each segment (crop, gizzard, duodenum, and ileum) of the digestive tract. Data were analyzed by 2-way analysis of covariance. There was a significant interaction between dietary Ca:AvP ratio and phytase supplementation for weight gain (WG), feed intake (FI), and feed conversion ratio (FCR). In diets with no phytase, Ca:AvP ratio had a greater effect on WG, FI, and FCR compared with those fed diets without phytase. The orthogonal polynomial contrasts showed that the increase in dietary Ca:AvP ratio significantly decreased WG and FI in a quadratic manner, whereas FCR increased (P < 0.05) linearly with higher dietary Ca:AvP ratio. Increasing dietary Ca:AvP ratio led to a significant quadratic decrease in phytate degradation and significant linear decreases in P digestibility and bone ash. Phytase addition increased (P < 0.05) phytate degradation and improved (P < 0.05) energy, AA, and P digestibility at all levels of Ca:AvP with no interaction (P > 0.05) between the main factors. Digestibility of AA was positively correlated (P < 0.05) with the degree of phytate degradation. Increasing dietary Ca:AvP ratio significantly increased gizzard pH in a linear manner. In conclusion, phytase (1,000 phytase units/kg of feed) improved phytate, and P and AA digestibility at all Ca:AvP ratios evaluated in this study.

This study investigated the influence of particle size and feed form on the performance, the AME(n), and the gross morphological and histological parameters of various segments of the digestive tracts of broilers fed wheat-based diets. The experimental design was a 2 x 2 factorial arrangement of treatments evaluating 2 wheat particle sizes (medium and coarse) and 2 feed forms (mash and pellet). The 2 particle sizes were achieved by grinding the whole wheat in the hammer mill to pass through 3- and 7-mm sieves. Broiler starter diets, based on wheat and soybean meal, were formulated and each diet was fed to 6 pens of 8 male broilers each from d 1 to 21 posthatching. Broiler performance was superior (P < 0.05) in birds fed pelleted diets compared with those on mash diets. Pelleting evened out the differences in particle size distribution between treatments and, as a result, wheat particle size had no effects (P > 0.05) on the performance of broilers fed pelleted diets. In mash diets, coarse grinding of wheat improved (P < 0.05) weight gain and feed:gain compared with medium grinding. Pelleting had a negative effect (P < 0.05) on AME(n). The improvement in bird performance with pelleting was accompanied by a decrease in the relative length of all components of the digestive tract. Conversely, the extent of the mucosal layer was greater (P < 0.05) in both the duodenum and jejunum of birds fed pelleted feeds. Feed form influenced (P < 0.05) the particle size of duodenal digesta, whereas particle size had no effect (P > 0.05). Overall, the current results showed that feed form had a greater influence on the different measured parameters than did particle size.

1. An experiment of 21-d duration was conducted to examine the effects of diluting wheat-based diets with insoluble fibre sources and whole wheat inclusion on the performance, nutrient utilisation, digestive tract development and ileal microbiota profile of broiler chickens. The treatments were as follows: Treatment 1, control diet based on ground wheat; Treatment 2, where 200 g/kg whole wheat replaced the ground wheat pre-pelleting; and Treatments 3 and 4 where the control diet was diluted with fine cellulose and wood shavings, respectively, at a ratio of 6 : 100 (w/w). 2. Weight gains and apparent metabolisable energy were unaffected by dietary treatment. Gain : feed ratio was not influenced by the inclusion of whole wheat or wood shavings, but decreased with cellulose inclusion. However, when gain:feed of birds was corrected by subtracting the amount of cellulose and wood shavings from the total feed consumption, it was found that the inclusion of wood shavings increased gain : feed, while cellulose inclusion had no effect. Similarly, AME(N) was unaffected by dietary treatment. However, when AME(N) was corrected for energy contribution from cellulose or wood shavings, improvements in AME(N) were observed in these two treatments. 3. Wood shavings increased the relative gizzard weights and improved ileal starch digestibility compared to other dietary treatments. All gut components were shorter in birds given diets containing cellulose and wood shavings compared to those receiving the control and whole wheat diets. 4. Ileal microbiota profiling, using denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis, showed that microbial composition was affected by dietary treatment and that the treatments were grouped into two main clusters. The two groupings showed similarity between birds receiving the control and cellulose diets and similarity between birds fed on the whole wheat and wood shavings diets. 5. The findings suggest that the effects of insoluble fibre on broiler performance differed depending on the fibre particle size.

The influence of particle size and grain type on the performance, AME(n), and on gross morphological and histological parameters of the various segments of the digestive tract of broilers fed wheat- or corn-based diets was investigated. The experimental design was a 2 x 2 factorial arrangement of treatments evaluating 2 particle sizes (fine and coarse) and 2 grain types (wheat and corn). The 2 particle sizes were achieved by grinding the whole grains in a hammer mill to pass through 1-mm and 7-mm screen sizes. Broiler starter diets, based on wheat- or corn-soybean meal, were formulated, pelleted, and each diet was offered to 6 cages of 8 male broilers each from d 1 to 21 posthatching. The results showed that the differences in particle size distribution still existed between diets after pelleting especially in the proportion of coarse particles (1 mm and over). In corn-based diets, coarse grinding improved (P = 0.06) weight gains compared with fine grinding, but this particle size effect was not observed in wheat-based diets. In both diets, coarse grinding lowered (P < 0.001) feed per gain of broilers compared with fine grinding. In wheat-based diets, coarse grinding improved (P = 0.06) AME(n) compared with fine grinding. Heavier (P < 0.05) gizzard weights were observed in birds fed the coarse corn-based diet, but particle size had no effect on the gizzard size in birds fed wheat-based diets. Villus height, crypt depth, and epithelial thickness in the duodenum were unaffected (P > 0.05) by particle size and grain type. Overall, the present results showed that the effect of feed particle size varies depending on grain type.

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Two trials (a 42-d performance and a 21-d cohort digestibility) were conducted to evaluate the performance and nutrient digestibility of broilers fed corn diets supplemented with exogenous xylanase, amylase, and protease as single or combined activities. A nutritionally adequate, positive control (PC) diet was formulated. The negative control (NC) diet was formulated to be lower in metabolizable energy (∼86 kcal/kg diet) and digestible amino acids (1 to 2%) compared to PC. The other 4 treatments were based on the NC and they were either supplemented with xylanase (X), amylase (A), protease (P), or a combination of X, A, and P (XAP; to provide 2,000 U of X, 200 U of A, and 4,000 U of P/kg diet). All diets were marginal in AvP and Ca and contained a background of phytase (1,000 FTU/kg). In each trial, male broiler (Ross 308) chicks were allocated to the 5 treatments (10 replicates of 20 birds/pen and 9 replicates of 8 birds/cage for the performance and digestibility trials, respectively). In the digestibility trial, ileal digesta was collected on d21 for the determination of nutrient utilization. Data were subjected to one-way ANOVA and means were separated by Tukey's HSD test. Only the XAP improved (P < 0.05) AMEn compared to NC. X, A or XAP improved (P < 0.05) N digestibility and apparent ileal digestible energy (AIDE). Both P and XAP improved N retention. The relative improvement in energy digestibility due to enzyme supplementation was greater at the ileal level than that measured in the excreta. The measured changes on AIDE due to supplemental enzymes were much higher than the sum of calculated contributions from starch, fat, and protein. Supplementation of all enzymes reduced (P < 0.05) ileal flow of soluble rhamnose and mannose relative to NC. In the performance trial, both X and XAP improved (P < 0.05) weight gain (WG) and only XAP improved (P < 0.05) FCR compared to NC during the starter phase (1-21d). Over the entire period (1–42d), WG and FI were not influenced (P > 0.05) by dietary treatments. Both X and XAP had lower (P < 0.05) FCR compared to NC (1.540 and 1.509 vs 1.567, respectively). However, birds fed diet supplemented with XAP had an improved (P < 0.05) FCR compared to birds fed single activities and had similar (P > 0.05) FCR compared to PC. In conclusion, these results suggest a synergistic effect between X, A and P on broiler performance and nutrient digestibility. In the current study, AIDE measurements appeared to overestimate the enzyme response. Calculation of the energy contribution by supplemental enzymes using the improvements in the digestibility of the undigested fraction of starch, fat and protein may be a more accurate measurement for the enzyme response than the absolute response in AIDE.

The aim of the present experiment was to examine the effect of coccidia challenge and natural betaine supplementation on performance, nutrient utilization, and intestinal lesion scores of broiler chickens fed suboptimal level of dietary methionine. The experimental design was a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement of treatments evaluating two levels of betaine supplementation (0 and 960 g betaine/t of feed) without or with coccidia challenge. Each treatment was fed to 8 cages of 8 male broilers (Ross 308) for 1 to 21d. On d 14, birds in the 2 challenged groups received mixed inocula of Eimeria species from a recent field isolate, containing approximately 180,000 E. acervulina, 6,000 E. maxima, and 18,000 E. tenella oocysts. At 21d, digesta from the terminal ileum was collected for the determination of dry matter, energy, nitrogen, amino acids, starch, fat, and ash digestibilities. Lesion scores in the different segments of the small intestine were also measured on d 21. Performance and nutrient digestibility data were analyzed by two-way ANOVA. Lesion score data were analyzed using Pearson chi-square test to identify significant differences between treatments. Orthogonal polynomial contrasts were used to assess the significance of linear or quadratic models to describe the response in the dependent variable to total lesion scores. Coccidia challenge reduced (P < 0.0001) the weight gain and feed intake, and increased (P < 0.0001) the feed conversion ratio. Betaine supplementation had no effect (P > 0.05) on the weight gain or feed intake, but lowered (P < 0.05) the feed conversion ratio. No interaction (P > 0.05) between coccidia challenge and betaine supplementation was observed for performance parameters. Betaine supplementation increased (P < 0.05) the digestibility of dry matter, nitrogen, energy, fat, and amino acids only in birds challenged with coccidia as indicated by the significant interaction (P < 0.0001) between betaine supplementation and coccidia challenge. The main effect of coccidia challenge reduced (P < 0.05) starch digestibility. Betaine supplementation improved (P < 0.05) starch digestibility regardless of the coccidia challenge. For each unit increase in the total lesion score, there was a linear (P < 0.001) decrease in digestibility of mean amino acids, starch, and fat by 3.8, 3.4 and 16%, respectively. Increasing total lesion scores resulted in a quadratic (P < 0.05) decrease in dry matter digestibility and ileal digestible energy. No lesions were found in the intestine or ceca of the unchallenged treatments. In the challenged treatments, betaine supplementation reduced (P < 0.01) the lesion scores at the duodenum, lower jejunum, and total lesion scores compared to the treatment without supplements. In conclusion, coccidia challenge lowered the digestibility of energy and nutrients and increased the feed conversion ratio of broilers. However, betaine supplementation reduced the impact of coccidia challenge and positively affected nutrient digestibility and the feed conversion ratio.