Effect of Pearl Millet with Enzyme Supplementation on the Performance of Broilers

Two hundred and forty commercial day-old broiler chicks were randomly distributed into six treatment groups with two replicates of twenty birds each to study the effect of replacement of maize with pearl millet, with or without multi-enzyme supplementation on their performance. Maize and soybean meal based starter (0–4 weeks) and finisher (4–6 weeks) diet was formulated as control ration (T₁) as per BIS (1992) recommendation. Other rations were: T₂ (control + multi-enzyme), T₃ (50% maize replaced with pearl millet), T₄ (T₃ + multi-enzyme), T₅ (100% maize replaced with pearl millet), and T₆ (T₅ + multi-enzyme). The body weight gain and feed intake were recorded at 28th and 42nd day of growth period. The body weight gain, feed intake, FCR and performance index did not differ significantly among all the dietary treatments in both the growth periods even with the supplementation of enzymes. During overall growth period significant (P<0.05) reduction in protein efficiency was observed in T₅ as compared to T₁ and supplementation of enzyme had no significant effect on protein efficiency of birds. Dry matter metabolizability reduced significantly (P<0.05) in T₃ (61.98) and T₅ (59.21) in comparison to T₁ (71.04). Significant (P<0.05) reduction in nitrogen retention was observed in T₃ (53.20%) as compared to T₁ (58.91%) and T₅ (57.51%). With the supplementation of enzyme dry matter metabolizability and nitrogen retention improved significantly in pearl millet fed groups (T₄ and T₆) as compared to their corresponding non supplemented groups (T₃ and T₅). Present study suggested that maize can be replaced by pearl millet up to 100% level in broiler ration without affecting their performance.