Multienzyme supplementation alleviates the performance of hens fed diets with lower crude protein and energy levels during peak to late production phase

This study examined the effects of supplementing a multienzyme complex on the laying performance, nutrient digestibility, cecal microflora, and digesta viscosity of laying hens fed corn-soybean meal (corn-SBM) and wheat diets. In the 12 weeks trial, 240 37-week Hy-Line Brown layers with an average body weight of 1.99 + 0.5 kg sourced from GANONGBIO, 151, Mageum-gil, Gasan-myeon, Pocheon-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea were partitioned into 4 treatments as 1. CON-: basal diet without multienzyme. 2. CON+: basal diet with 0.035 % multienzyme. 3. Low nutrient-: basal diet reduced by 100 Kcal/kg ME and 0.05 % CP without multienzyme. 3. Low nutrient+: basal diet reduced by 100 Kcal/kg ME and 0.05 % CP with 0.035 % multienzyme. Each treatment consisted of 15 replicates with 4 hens per replicate in a completely randomized design. Results showed body weight, average daily feed intake, and average egg weight remained unaffected across treatments. However, hens in the Low nutrient+ group showed higher (p < 0.05) hen-day egg production and egg mass, with a lower feed conversion ratio, comparable to birds in CON+. Egg and eggshell quality parameters were not influenced by the treatments. Nutrient digestibility results revealed higher (p < 0.05) dry matter digestibility in the Low nutrient+ and CON+, while no differences were observed for gross energy, crude protein, ether extract, ash, or amino acid digestibility. Non-starch polysaccharide digestibility and inositol release were improved (p < 0.05) in the Low nutrient+, although xylan digestibility remained unchanged. Cecal Lactobacillus spp. counts increased (p < 0.05), and digesta viscosity was reduced (p < 0.05) in the Low nutrient+ and CON+ groups, indicating enhanced gut health. We concluded that the multienzyme complex at 0.035 % improved performance and nutrient digestibility in hens fed corn-wheat-SBM diets reduced by 100 kcal ME and 0.5 % CP. This suggests multienzyme supplementation can lower feed cost without affecting productivity.