What are the expected benefi ts from using enzymes?
While carbohydrases and proteases have been used in poultry quite successfully, this has not been the case in pigs. A number of studies have shown that exogenous enzymes can improve the digestibility of nutrients in feedstuffs commonly used in pig diets, though the positive increases in digestibility have not consistently translated into improvements in growth performance, especially in diets based on corn and soybean meal. One of the supposed effects of enzymes is the increased availability of energy from fibrous plant materials. Increasing the availability of energy from feed ingredients should improve feed efficiency. Published scientific data, on the other hand, show mixed results and are inconclusive. One theory accounting for the differences in digestibility data and production responses is that the enzymes increase the digestibility of feed ingredients in the large intestine, while most of the absorption of nutrients occurs in the small intestine. Thus, the absence of a beneficial effect of enzyme supplementation in pigs, or a limited beneficial effect, may be the result of increases in digestibility occurring at a location in the gastrointestinal tract where the pigs are unable to use the increased energy to influence growth rate or feed efficiency.
Use of enzymes in diets containing dried distillers grains with solubles
Dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS) have relatively higher fiber content than do traditional feed ingredients like corn and soybean meal. As more DDGS are used in swine diets, there also has been an increasing interest in adding enzymes in such diets to improve their energy value. However, data from recent studies have not shown significant improvements in growth performance of pigs fed enzyme-supplemented diets. Even at very high levels of DDGS (60%), addition of commercial enzymes did not result in performance improvements.