Effect of Pearl Millet with Enzyme Supplementation on the Performance of Broilers

Two hundred and forty commercial day-old broiler chicks were randomly distributed into six treatment groups with two replicates of twenty birds each to study the effect of replacement of maize with pearl millet, with or without multi-enzyme supplementation on their performance. Maize and soybean meal based starter (0–4 weeks) and finisher (4–6 weeks) diet was formulated as control ration (T1) as per BIS (1992) recommendation. Other rations were: T2 (control + multi-enzyme), T3 (50% maize replaced with pearl millet), T4 (T3 + multi-enzyme), T5 (100% maize replaced with pearl millet), and T6 (T5 + multi-enzyme). The body weight gain and feed intake were recorded at 28th and 42nd day of growth period. The body weight gain, feed intake, FCR and performance index did not differ significantly among all the dietary treatments in both the growth periods even with the supplementation of enzymes. During overall growth period significant (P<0.05) reduction in protein efficiency was observed in T5 as compared to T1 and supplementation of enzyme had no significant effect on protein efficiency of birds. Dry matter metabolizability reduced significantly (P<0.05) in T3 (61.98) and T5 (59.21) in comparison to T1 (71.04). Significant (P<0.05) reduction in nitrogen retention was observed in T3 (53.20%) as compared to T1 (58.91%) and T5 (57.51%). With the supplementation of enzyme dry matter metabolizability and nitrogen retention improved significantly in pearl millet fed groups (T4 and T6) as compared to their corresponding non supplemented groups (T3 and T5). Present study suggested that maize can be replaced by pearl millet up to 100% level in broiler ration without affecting their performance.