Exogenous enzymes: a tool for maintaining intestinal health

Exogenous enzymes: a tool for maintaining intestinal health

Maintaining production rates with a competitive production cost is a constant challenge for the poultry sector.

The inclusion of exogenous enzymes in diets is an indispensable practice to face this challenge, being that it maximizes the use of feed by birds with a reduction in cost, due to formulation adjustments.

In fact, it is estimated that the inclusion of a nutritional matrix of an enzyme complex containing carbohydrases, phytases and proteases for the formulation of commercial diets of animal origin for broilers is capable of reducing the cost of production by 10 to 15% per ton of ration on average.

Practical approach to the benefits of using exogenous enzymes

The actions of enzymes on anti-nutritional factors present in diets, such as phytate and non-starchy polysaccharides and on the activity of endogenous enzymes, increasing the availability of nutrients (calcium, phosphorus and amino acids) and energy are frequently mentioned (Alabi et al., 2019;  Bedford & Cowieson, 2020) and are reflected in the reduction of costs.

However, this text makes a practical approach to the benefits, in addition to the economic, emphasizing the mechanisms of action of enzymes in the maintenance of intestinal health of birds.

Non-starch polysaccharides

Non-starch polysaccharides, in addition to interfering with the digestion of other nutrients, can favor the growth of undesirable microorganisms, triggering inflammatory responses through intestinal receptors (Kogut et al. , 2018;  Dal Pont et al. , 2020).