BEHAVIOURAL RESPONSES OF BROILER CHICKENS FED DIETS CONTAINING DIFFERENT ENZYMES

Abstract

Animals used behaviour as one of the important tools of adapting to their physical and social environment. This study was conducted to examine the effect of enzyme on the behavioural response of broiler chickens fed with diets containing different enzymes.. The experiment was carried out for six weeks using one hundred and twenty-day old cobb 500 broiler chicks (n = 120). The birds were randomly distributed into four dietary treatment, such that there were 30 birds per each treatment and replicated thrice with ten birds each.. Treatment 1 (T1) (control diet without enzyme), T2 (diet with enzyme Nutrizymes NZ), T3 (diet with enzyme Nutrizymes NZ + Avizymes VZ) and T4 (diet with enzyme Nutrizymes NZ + Roxazyme PZ). Walking, lying, floor scratching, eating, wing flapping, feather pecking, dust bathing, preening and flying were not significantly (p<0.05) influenced by age while floor scratching, fighting and sleeping were significant (p<0.05). floor and fighting (3.20) behaviours were observed in broiler chickens atb5th week while birds appeared to sleep (0.81) more at 3rd week of age compared to the fifth week. Birds were seen lying down frequently (23.76) (p<0.5) in treatment 4 (NZ+PZ) while a higher occurrence of floor scratching (106.10) was observed on treatment 3 (NZ+VZ) diet which signifies better welfare. The interaction between enzyme and behaviour was significant (p<0.05) in birds on diet NZ+VZ with higher incidence of floor scratching (188.0) while fighting behaviour was seen on birds in T4 (NZ+PZ) diet. The study concluded that addition of enzymes in broiler diet enhances better behavioural response in NZ+PZ.