Dietary Inclusion of Pancreatin Enzyme on the Ileal and Fecal Digestibility of Nutrients in Layer-Type Cockerels

ABSTRACT The current experiment aimed to evaluate the effects of Pancreatin supplementation at different levels on ileal and fecal digestibility in layer-type cockerels. A total of 480-day-old silver brown Hy-Line male chicks were randomly allocated into 5 treatments, 6 replicates (16 birds per pen) arranged in a completely randomized design. Pancreatin enzyme was supplemented on a basal corn-soybean meal-based diet at 0, 250, 500, 750, and 1000 mg/kg and was fed in two growth phases (starter and grower). The results indicated that at the end of the starter stage, except for 1000 mg/kg, dietary Pancreatin supplementation levels increased (p0.05) on nitrogen digestibility (ND), nitrogen retention (NR), digestible energy (DE), apparent metabolizable energy (AME), dry matter digestibility (DMD), dry matter retention (DMR), and apparent metabolizable energy corrected for nitrogen (AME-n) on fed starter diet. On the other hand, at the end of the grower stage, dietary Pancreatin enzyme supplementation reduced (p