Effects of corn completely replacement by broken rice, wheat, and rice bran and enzyme preparation supplementation on growth performance, meat quality, digestive function, and glucose metabolism of Langshan chickens

The aim of this experiment was to evaluate the effects of a completely alternative to corn diet, addition of compound enzymes or their combination on growth performance, intestinal digestive enzyme activity, nutrient apparent digestibility and gene expression related to energy metabolism in the breast muscle of Langshan chickens. In total, 192 30-day-old birds were used in a 2 × 2 factorial design, with respect to the main effects of diets (corn or alternative) and enzymes (absent or present). The experimental period was two phases of 28 days each. An interaction was observed between diet and enzyme for average daily feed intake (ADFI). Compared to corn-soybean meal basal diet, although the alternative diet showed a decrease (P < 0.05) on ADFI, the alternative diet with compound enzymes showed an improvement (P < 0.05). The main effect of alternative diets improved (P < 0.05) the digestibility of gross energy (GE). The metabolism related gene expression of SGLT-1 and GLUT-2 was significantly up-regulated (P < 0.05). Furthermore, the compound enzymes improved (P < 0.05) dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP) and GE apparent digestibility. Enzyme supplementation elevated (P < 0.05) jejunal chyme amylase, mucosal maltase, and sucrase activity. It also enhanced (P < 0.05) serum albumin (ALB), triiodothyronine (T3), glucose and insulin levels. The completely alternative diet, compound enzymes supplementation or their combination, had no negative impact on nutrient digestion, and had a beneficial effect on the growth performance of Langshan chickens. The combination of the diet and enzyme played a synergistic effect in improving growth performance. © 2025 Society of Chemical Industry.