A University of Manitoba research project has demonstrated that enzyme supplements improve the net energy content of swine.

Deepak Velayudhan, a graduate student at the University of Manitoba, presented his studies of enzyme supplements in swine at last week’s Joint Annual Meeting of the American Dairy Science Association, the American Society of Animal Science and the Canadian Society of Animal Science.

In the study, Velayudhan used 24 barrows that weighed an average of 16 lb. The barrows were fed once a day in a metabolism crate for 16 days. A metabolism crate is a holding pen with instruments to measure waste and an animal’s energy output. The control diet fed was a corn and soybean-based diet.

A second group of barrows was given a ration containing corn and dry extruded-expelled soybean meal (DESBM).

Velayundhan said the test groups were fed the DESBM ration containing multi-enzyme complex. The enzyme complex contained a combination of phytase and carbohydrases enzymes.

“Various studies have showed that the use of multi-enzyme supplementation can improve the nutrient value of such diets,” Velayudhan said.

According to the researcher, the barrows were then transferred to an indirect calorimeter. An indirect calorimeter measures energy metabolism through associated heat production. Velayudhan said he measured the oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide production of the barrows for 36 hours.

His data showed that a diet containing .05% of the multi-enzyme complex increased the net energy content of dry extruded-expelled soybean meal by nearly 5%.