Effect of supplementing papain enzyme in diets containing a combination of alternate protein sources on performance and egg quality of White leghorn layers

A study was conducted to evaluate the effect of supplementing papain enzyme in diets containing combination of different protein sources (cottonseed meal, sunflower cake and distillery dried grain solubles) on production performance and egg quality of White Leghorn Layers. One hundred and twenty commercial layers (BV 300) at 49 weeks were randomly allotted to 5 treatments with 6 replicates in each treatment and 4 birds in each replicate. A control diet (CD) based on maize and SBM formulated to contain 15.5% CP and 2600 kcal/kg ME. Two test diets were prepared based on the combination of alternative protein sources (APS) containing CSM, SFC and DDGS in equal ratio on weight basis at 10% and 20% (APS 10% and APS 20%). Other two diets were prepared by supplementing Papain enzyme @250 g/ton of feed to the diets APS 10% and APS 20%. The results showed that the production performance (egg production (EP), feed conversion ratio (FCR), egg weight (EW), egg mass (EM) and body weight (BW)) and egg quality parameters were not affected (P>0.05) by the level of APS (10% and 20%) included in the layer diets. The birds fed on diets containing APS 20% had significantly higher feed intake (FI) compared to those fed on SBM control diet. Supplementation of papain enzyme to APS 10% and 20% diets significantly improved (P< 0.05) the egg production, egg mass, feed efficiency, albumen quality and shell weight compared to SBM control. Feed intake, Egg weight, Body weight, yolk index, yolk colour and shell thickness were not affected by supplementation of papain enzyme to the diets containing APS 10% and 20%. Based on the overall results, it was concluded that the combination of APS used in this experiment can be included up to 20% without affecting the performance of layers. Supplementation of papain enzyme to the APS diets (10% and 20%) improved the layer production performance, albumen quality and shell weight.