Optimizing Broiler Performance: Lowering Dietary Protein with Amino Acids Supplementation and Protease Enhancement

This study conducted to investigate how the addition of amino acids and proteolytic enzymes can compensate for the reduced protein content in broiler diets. The 420-day-old male chicks (Arbor Acres) were assigned into seven treatment groups. Seven diets were prepared to cover all the nutrient needs except crude protein, T1 crude protein (CP) according to the strain guide requirements (control), T2-T4 gave 2% minus of CP than the control diet with the addition of amino acids to get the recommendation levels or protease enzyme or mixture of them, respectively. T5-T7 gave 4% minus of CP than the control diet with the addition of amino acids to get the recommendation levels or protease enzyme or mixture of them, respectively. Productive performance, carcass characteristics, thyroid hormones, blood proteins, liver and kidney functions, intestinal morphology and economic efficiency were be measured. The results indicated that the addition of a sufficient amount of amino acids, or adding protease enzyme, or adding both to diets low in protein percentage, whether with a deficiency of 2% or 4%, compensated for this decrease and produced results that were comparable to the control group also enhancing the overall feed conversion ratio. No significant differences (P>0.05) were seen between all treatments in carcass characteristics, thyroid hormones, blood proteins, kidney and liver functions and intestinal histomorphological parameters. These data imply that adding necessary amino acids in in amounts that meet nutritional needs or using protease enzymes or a combination can lower broiler feed crude protein by up to 4%.