Evaluation of dietary supplements of lipase, detergent, and crude porcine pancreas on fat utilization by young broiler chicks

The purpose of Experiment 1 was to improve the digestibility of fat through the use of supplemental lipase enzymes. A 2 × 3 factorial arrangement of treatments involving two levels of animal-vegetable blend fat (AV) (4 and 8%) and three enzyme treatments, namely none; Pancreatic®, 0.714%; and Pancreatin®, 0.714%, were randomly allocated within a battery brooder. There was an increase in diet ME and apparent fat digestibility when Pancreatic® and Pancreatin® enzymes were used (P < 0.01). However, both enzymes caused lower feed intake and lower BW gain (P < 0.01). In Experiment 2, Pancreatic® enzyme was used at graded levels of 0, 0.214, 0.429, 0.643, 0.857, and 1.071%, involving 4% dietary AV fat. The ME values were greater as the enzyme level increased (P < 0.01). However, as found in Experiment 1 lower feed intake and BW gain were observed with all enzyme levels compared with the control group. There was a linear effect on feed intake and BW gain (P < 0.01) and a quadratic effect on apparent fat digestibility (P < 0.05) and feed utilization (P < 0.01). Experiment 3 was designed to test the effect of Pancreatic® enzyme at 0 or 1.339% in combination with two levels of detergent, namely 0 and 10% (with 4% added AV). The detergent used consisted of a mixture of 95% Span® 60 and 5% Tween® 60. In general, there was no significant effect of detergent (P > 0.05). Experiment 4 was conducted to test the effect of supplementation of graded levels of ground crude porcine pancreas at 0, 0.321, 0.535, 0.750, 0.964, 1.178, or 1.392% of the diet on performance of male broiler chicks to confirm the anorexic effect caused by supplementing with Pancreatic® enzyme. In general, there was no significant effect of feeding crude porcine pancreas on the performance of male broiler chicks (P > 0.05). In these studies, lipase enzymes improved fat digestion, although it is suspected that associated reduced feed intake may be associated with contaminants such as cholecystokinin hormone.