Effect of Xylamax on growth performance, gut health, and carcass quality of broilers fed reduced-energy sorghum diets presented at 2022 PSA Annual Meeting in San Antonio

Research findings highlighting the efficacy of Xylanase, a NSPase marketed under the product name Xylamax by BioResource International (BRI), were shared at the Poultry Science Association (PSA) annual meeting held July 11-14 in San Antonio. The poster presentation detailed the improvement to body weight and gut health parameters that was achieved by supplementing with Xylamax during a study with 1,350 day-old mixed-sex Cobb 500 chicks grown to 42 days of age.

The three feed treatments evaluated in the study included: Positive control (PC), formulated with the standard metabolizable energy (ME); Negative control (NC), ME reduction of 130 kcal for an energy-reduced sorghum diet consistent throughout all diet phases; and Xylamax (XM), a xylanase supplemented to the negative control at 100g/MT.

Researchers found that the Xylamax supplement treatment significantly increased (p< 0.05) the birds’ body weight by day 42 compared to the negative control (NC) treatment. The feed conversion ratio (FCR) on the final day of the study was also improved following the same trend.

While the Xylamax supplement delivered statistically equal 42 day bodyweight with the birds fed the standard energy level in the positive control, BRI researcher Yun-mei Amy Lin notes the big benefit comes from a reduced feed cost. “Xylamax allows for saving feed cost in the broilers diet by replacing 130 kcal/kg energy,” she explains.

Additionally, the researchers evaluated gut integrity and carcass quality of the birds in the three treatments and concluded those supplemented with Xylamax showed a significant improvement in gut morphology parameters compared to the negative control and numerically better than the positive control.

The research was conducted by Yun-mei Amy Lin and Sandra Rodrigues with BioResource International, Durham, NC; Ernesto Ávila González and Carlos López Coello with Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Medicina Veterinaria y Zootecnia, Mexico City, Mexico, and and José Arce Menocalwith Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo, Michoacán, Mexico.