Effect of a combination phytase and carbohydrolase enzyme supplement on growth performance and bone mineralization of pigs from six weeks to slaughter at 105 kg

peer-reviewed An experiment was conducted to assess the effect of a combination of carbohydrolase (from Talaromyces Versatilis) and 6-phytase (from Schizosaccharomyces Pombe) multi enzyme complex (mec; Rovabio Max®, Adisseo, France) on the growth and bone mineralization of pigs fed maize-wheat-soybean meal diets. Pigs (n = 384) were selected at 28 days of age, penned in same gender pairs and fed a common acclimatization diet meeting animal requirements for 14 days. Four experimental diets were formulated for each of 4 growth stages from 42 days of age to slaughter at 147 days: 1) Positive control (PC), formulated to meet nutritional requirements; 2) Negative control 1 (NC1; DE × 0.985, CP × 0.985, −1.0 g Ca/kg and −1.2 g dig P/kg), 3) Negative control 2 (NC2; DE × 0.975, CP × 0.975, −1.0 g Ca/kg and −1.2 g dig P/kg) and 4) Negative control 3 (NC3; DE × 0.975, CP × 0.975, −1.5 g Ca /kg and −1.7 g dig P/kg). Negative control diets were also supplemented with mec resulting in 7 experimental treatments. Feed disappearance, wastage and individual pig live weight (LW) were recorded at the beginning and end of each growth phase. Reducing in dietary constituents (CP, DE, P and Ca) compared to PC reduced LW (P < 0.001), average daily feed intake (ADFI; P < 0.01), and average daily gain (ADG; P < 0.001) throughout the trial. Addition of mec to NC diets increased LW (P < 0.001), ADFI (P < 0.001) and ADG (P < 0.001) up to slaughter and improved feed conversion ratio (FCR; P < 0.001) to day 112 of the trial. There were increases in area bone mineral density (aBMD) of the foot from day 77 onwards (P < 0.01) and metacarpal aBMD (P < 0.01) from day 112 onwards when mec was added to NC diets although no effect (P > 0.05) on metacarpal Ca or P percentages was found. It was concluded that supplementing carbohydrolase and phytase to low nutrient density diets can return the growth and FCR of the pigs as well as metacarpal and foot aBMD to the levels reached by pigs fed diets meeting nutrient recommendations.