Exogenous enzyme complexes and linoleic acid to laying hens

The aim of this research was to evaluate how the decrease of fat inclusion (and therefore compounds essential for animal development, such as linoleic acid) and the use of exogenous enzyme complexes can affect the performance of layers. Treatments consisted of diets with different levels of linoleic acid, the negative control (NC) with 2.41 g/100g and positive control (PC) with 3.75g/100g. Treatment 3 (RLLA) was reformulated using enzymes and low levels of linoleic acid equal to the NC, treatment 4 (RILA) and treatment 5 (RHLA) were reformulated using enzymes, but with linoleic acid at moderate (3.08 g/100g) and high levels (3.75 g/100g), respectively. The formulation of treatments 3, 4, and 5 used enzymes reformulated using an enzyme nutritional matrix. The variables analyzed in each period were the feed intake (g/bird/day); egg production (%); egg weight (g); egg mass (g); feed conversion per egg mass (kg/kg) and per dozen eggs (kg/dozen); weight (g) of yolk, albumen, and shell; specific gravity (g/cm³); Haugh unit; and shell thickness (mm). The commercial enzyme supplementation was effective in supporting the productive performance of the laying hens. Nutritional reduction in diets reformulated with supplementation of the commercial enzymes can be an alternative to reduce production costs without compromising the productive performance of hens.