Effects of an enzyme complex on in vitro dry matter digestibility of feed ingredients for pigs

Abstract

Feed ingredients of plant origin are commonly used in swine diets. However, the major components of plant cell walls, non-starch polysaccharides (NSPs), reduce nutrient digestibility. To improve the efficiency of feed utilization, exogenous enzyme products that degrade NSPs have been widely used in commercial animal feeds. Nonetheless, the effects of exogenous enzyme addition to swine diets on nutrient digestibility have not been determined. To this end, in vitro approaches may be used. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of an enzyme complex (EC) containing xylanase, protease, and phytase on the in vitro dry matter (DM) digestibility of nine feed ingredients including cereal grain energy sources (corn, wheat, and barley) and protein sources (soybean meal, rapeseed meal, palm kernel meal, cottonseed meal, copra meal, and distillers dried grains with solubles). Both in vitro ileal and total tract digestibility (IVID and IVTTD, respectively) of DM were determined for the nine test ingredients, with or without EC addition. The EC addition increased the IVID of DM in copra meal (p = 0.047) and tended to increase the IVID of DM in corn, wheat, barley, palm kernel meal, cottonseed meal, and DDGS (p < 0.10). On the other hand, no significant effect was observed in soybean meal and rapeseed meal. The IVTTD of DM in the test ingredients was not affected by the addition of EC, except for cottonseed meal (52.1 vs. 50.6%, p = 0.053). In conclusion, the effects of EC addition on in vitro DM digestibility may vary, depending on the test ingredient and method used.