effect of dietary triticale levels and enzyme supplementation on performance, gut morphology and blood chemistry of very young broiler chicks

the present study was carried out to investigate the effect of different levels of triticale with/ without enzyme cocktail (xylanase and β-glucanase) on performance of broiler chicks. five hundred day old male broiler chicks (ross 308), assigned to a factorial arrangement (5×2) with a completely randomized design with 5 replicates of 10 chicks each. the factors included 5 levels of triticale (0, 8, 16, 24 and 32%) and 2 levels of enzyme cocktail (0 and 0.05%). the experimental diets were isocalric and isonitrogenous and were fed adlibitum from 0 to 10 d of age. the live body weight in 10 d and daily weight gain significantly decreased and feed conversion ratio significantly increased with increase in the level of triticale up to 16% and more. the gut viscosity, gastro intestinal tract organ relative weight were significantly increased with increase in triticale level and in birds fed the diet with 32% level of triticale showed a shorter villi compared with the longer villi in those fed the corn-soy diet. the exogenous enzyme supplementation significantly affects broiler performance and reduced anti- nutrient effects of triticale. the use of different levels of triticale and enzyme supplementation did not significantly affect on chicks blood chimistry. in conclusion, this study revealed that starter diets containing up to 8% of triticale did not have an adverse effect on performance of broiler chicks