Effects of different levels of corn gluten meal without processing and processed with protease enzyme on performance, some blood biochemical parameters, immunity and microbial population in broiler chickens

This experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of different levels of corn gluten meal (4 and 8%) without processing and processed with protease enzyme (300 mg/L), in a completely randomized design with 2×2 factorial experiment and a control diet on broiler chicks performance, blood biochemical parameters, immunity and ileum microbial population. 200 commercial strains Ross 308 male broiler chicks with 5 treatments, 4 replicates and 10 chicks in each replicates were reared for 38 d. During the experiment, feed intake, body weight gain and feed conversion ratio were measured. At the age of 30, 37 to evaluate the immunity and At the age of 38 to evaluate some blood biochemical parameters, blood were taken from the wing vein. At the end of experimental period microbial population of ileum were investigate. Results of this study indicated that experimental diets containing 4 and 8% corn gluten meal with protease enzyme processing in interactions and independent comparison to the control diet increased feed intake, body weight gain and reduced feed conversion ratio (P<0.05), and also experimental diets containing 8% corn gluten meal with protease enzyme processing in interactions and independent comparison to the control diet increased immunity, superoxide dismutase and reduced harmful microbial flora during the finishing period of the experiment (P<0.05). In general, the results of the present experiment showed that the use of treated corn gluten meal with protease enzyme in vitro improved performance, immunity and reduced harmful microbial population in the broiler chicks.