Effect of dietary rice distillers dried grains with solubles and enzyme supplementation on growth performance and immune status in broiler chickens

An experiment was conducted on 420 day old broiler chicks, randomly distributed into seven dietary treatments. The birds in group A were offered basal diet as per BIS (2007) and the birds in treatment groups B, C and D were offered diets containing rice distillers dried grains with solubles (rDDGS) at 5, 10 and 15% levels with replacing soybean meal and birds in groups E, F and G were offered diets having rDDGS at 5, 10 and 15% levels with multi-enzyme Ronozyme Max Act® (GT) @ 400g/ton of feed, respectively. Significantly (P<0.05) higher live body weight and weight gain were recorded in treatment group E compared to group A and group D at 2nd and 3rd weeks. The inclusion of rDDGS with or without enzyme did not show any significant (P>0.05) difference for body weight, gain in weight, feed intake and FCR as compared to control at 6th week. During 3rd week, antibody titers against New Castle Disease virus was significantly (P<0.05) higher in B and E groups as compared to D and G. The highest net profit (Rupees/kg live weight) was observed in group G (23.49) followed by groups D (23.06), E (22.75), B (22.25), C (22.11), F (21.89) and A (20.10). It is concluded that, the inclusion of rice DDGS in broilers diets up to 15% levels replacing soybean meal with multi-enzyme was economically more beneficial due to reduced feed cost as well as cost of broiler production without affecting growth performances and immune response.