Impact of Acidified Sodium Chlorite Treatment and Enzyme Supplementation on Energy Bio-availability from Maize-Soy Mixture

Acidified sodium chlorite, a strong biocidal agent, has been found to improve the energy bioavailability from fiber rich feed ingredients like sunflower meal and de-oiled rice bran in chicken. As maize and soybean are the two most commonly used ingredients in poultry feed and a number of exogenous enzyme preparations are being used commercially to improve the nutrient bioavailability in poultry, the present study was conducted to evaluate the effect of acidified sodium chlorite (ASC) treatment at 0, 100 and 250 ppm level and enzyme supplementation (0.3 g/kg), both individually and in combination, on energy bio-availability from maize-soy mixture (60:40), through practical diet replacement method in adult cockerels. Results revealed that the feed intake in various groups was almost similar indicating ASC and enzyme had no untoward influence on feed palatability. The treatment with ASC at 100 and 250 ppm resulted in 1.72 and 2.94% improvement in AME_n of maize-soy mixture over control (3261 kcal). The AME_n values were comparable between enzyme supplemented and non supplemented groups. Thus it may be concluded that though ASC pretreatment enhanced the energy bioavailability (1.7 to 2.9%) from maizesoy mixture but its effectiveness with enzyme supplementation need to be further investigated.