Applied Research Note: Exogenous lipase supplementation to low-energy, low-protein, and low–amino acid diets for broiler chickens from one to 42 d

The use of exogenous enzymes for poultry has been studied for years. However, there is still limited information on the effects of exogenous lipase supplementation on the growth performance of broilers fed with diets containing reduced nutritional levels. The objective was to investigate the effects of lipase supplementation on growth performance of broilers fed with diets containing different reduced ME, CP, and essential amino acids (EAA). One-day-old Cobb 500 male broilers (n = 480) were distributed in a randomized complete block design, with 4 dietary treatments and 6 replicates of 20 birds. The treatments were as follows: positive control (PC; formulated as per the breeder guideline), negative control (NC; reduction in nutrition levels by 100 kcal/kg in ME, by 1% in CP, and by 5% in EAA), PC diet supplemented with 100 g/t of lipase (PC + Lipase), and NC diet supplemented with 100 g/t of lipase (NC + Lipase). In general, the reduction in nutritional levels (NC) negatively affected body weight gain (BWG) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) compared with PC treatment (P < 0.05). The BWG and FCR were similar between the PC, PC + Lipase, and NC + Lipase groups and better than the NC group, from 1 to 14 d (P < 0.003). From 15 to 28 d, BWG was higher in the PC and PC + Lipase groups than in NC and NC + Lipase groups (P < 0.001), whereas FCR was lower in the PC and PC + Lipase groups than in the NC + Lipase group (P = 0.002). From 29 to 42 d, PC + Lipase and NC + Lipase treatments showed higher BWG than PC and NC treatments (P < 0.001). Most importantly, the use of lipase in NC diets from 1 to 42 d was able to ameliorate the negative effects of a low-nutrient diet, leading to results similar to the PC diet.