The effect of serine protease on broiler growth and carcass quality

Abstract

DOI: 10.15414/afz.2014.17.03.87–89

Received 22. May 2014 ǀ Accepted 9. June 2014 ǀ Available online 27. August 2014

The experiment was performed to compare the influence of commercial serine protease in broiler grower diets with standard crude protein (CP) and lower CP level on growth parameters and carcass quality. One thousand three hundred twenty 1-d-old Ross 308 broiler chicks of both sexes were randomly allocated into 4 dietary treatments each with three replicates (4x3x110). Diets with two levels of CP (21.1 and 20.4%) with and without protease were used. At the end of the experiment 36 birds from each treatment were randomly chosen for carcass quality measurement. Results of the experiment showed that supplement of serine protease to the diets did not have (P>0.05) significant effect on growth performance, but in lower CP diets improved both final body weight (1837.8 g vs. 1854.9 g) and FCR (1800.7 g/kg vs. 1785.2 g/kg). The supplement of protease to the diet with lower CP had positive significant effect (P<0.05) on carcass yield (71.9 vs. 73.0%). Serine protease supplementation had positive but not significant effect mainly on live weight and FCR in the diets with lower CP level.

Keywords: crude protein, chicken, carcass yield