Carbohydrases are often incorporated into livestock feed as digestive aids to improve animal performance. AC1 is a thermostable carbohydrase with β-1,4-glucanase, endo-cellulase, and cellobiohydrolase activity. AC1 has been expressed in corn, where it accumulates in the grain for easy inclusion in animal diets. Incorporating the enzyme in high-fiber diets (corn-soy supplemented with distiller's dry grains with solubles) that were fed to 5-week-old pigs led to a trend of decreasing viscosity of the digesta as the dose of the enzyme increased (P = 0.092). AC1 also tended to increase the apparent ileal digestibility (AID) of neutral detergent fiber (P = 0.076). When fed diets containing 2126 U/kg AC1, pigs experienced no adverse effects in terms of performance metrics (body weights, average daily gain, average daily feed intake and gain-to-feed ratio), hematology, blood chemistry or general health when compared to pigs fed a control diet that lacked AC1.
Keywords: Animal nutrition; Beta-glucanase; Carbohydrase; Feed additive; Swine.
© 2021 Agrivida, Inc.