Intake, digestibility and blood metabolites of lambs fed increasing levels of exogenous fibrolytic enzymes

Abstract

The present study aimed to evaluate how the increasing addition of exogenous fibrolytic enzymes in the diet of ewe lambs influenced feed intake, digestive capacity and blood metabolites. The trial was conducted in a 5×5 Latin square design with 5 treatments and 5 replications, using crossbred Santa Inês × Dorper ewe lambs with an average initial weight of 46.48 ± 5.60 kg and approximately 7 months of age. Over a period of 60 days, the animals were housed in individual metabolic cages. The treatments consisted of a control diet and four increasing levels of inclusion of fibrolytic enzymes (FIBROZYME®) (0.5, 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0% of dry matter), administered daily at the time of diet offering. There were no significant differences in nutrient intake (g animal-1 day-1), live weight (%PV-1), and metabolic weight (PV0.75) among treatments. There were also no significant differences in the apparent dry matter digestibility, fecal weight or fecal score. However, there was a significant difference in the blood metabolite creatinine but not in the animals' blood glucose levels. Therefore, the addition of exogenous fibrolytic enzymes does not influence the feed intake or blood glucose of ewe lambs but alters plasma creatinine.