Estimation of apparent protein digestibility of Sardari and Azar 2 wheat cultivars with and without enzyme in caged broiler chickens

The present study was conducted to estimate the apparent protein digestibility of two varieties, including Sardari and Azar 2 in the presence or absence of enzyme supplementation (Grindazym GP 15000) in broiler chickens. One hundred and eighty fourteen-day-old broiler chickens (Cobb 500 of mixed sex) were purchased and distributed randomly into 6 three-storey cage. Diets were a basal diet (corn-soybean meal-based diet) and experimental diets contacting 40% of basal diet and 60% of the ground wheat cultivar which fed with and without the addition of enzymes. Each diet was fed to 3 replicates each having 10 birds in a factorial experimet based a completely randomized design during the grower (14 to 20 days) and finisher (30 to 36 days) periods. Wheat cultivars used in the present study were prepared from the Kurdistan province. The apparent protein digestibility of Sardari and Azar 2 cultivars during grower and finisher periods were 75.63%, 76.19% and 64.47%, 69.66%, respectively. Sardari cultivar had higher apparent protein digestibility than Azar 2 cultivar (P<0.05). Enzyme supplementation did not increase the apparent protein digestibility in both wheat cultivars (P>0.05). During the grower period, supplementation the basal and experimental diets with enzyme decreased the feed conversion ratio significantly (P<0.05). It can be concluded that addition of enzymes to the diets containing wheat, improve the feed conversion ratio during the grower period in both Sardari and Azar 2 cultivars, however it did not have significant effects on the apparent protein digestibility and performance of broiler chickens.