A Novel Bacterial 6-Phytase Improves Growth Performance, Tibia Mineralization and Precaecal Digestibility of Phosphorus in Broilers: Data from Four Independent Performance Trials

A series of four broiler performance studies were conducted in different facilities to investigate the efficacy of a novel bacterial 6-phytase added at 500 FTU/kg diet on growth performance, bone mineralization and precaecal digestibility of phosphorus (pcdP) in broilers fed diets deficient in available P (avP) and calcium (Ca). The experimental design was the same for all studies, with each having three treatments: positive control (PC) diet formulated to meet or exceed the requirements of birds, negative control (NC) diet similarly reduced by 0.15% points in avP and Ca compared to the PC diet, and the NC diet supplemented with phytase (PHY) at 500 FTU/kg diet from 1 to 35 days of age. Body weight (BW) and feed intake were measured at 21 and 35 days of age, and average daily gain (ADG), average daily feed intake (ADFI), feed conversion ratio (FCR), BW gain-corrected-FCR (cFCR), mortality and European performance efficiency factor (EPEF) were calculated. Tibia dry matter, tibia ash content and pcd of P were measured at 21 days of age in all experiments. The analysis of the data from the four experiments showed that compared with birds fed the adequate-nutrient diet, birds fed the NC diet resulted in a decrease (<i>p</i> < 0.05) in BW, ADG, ADFI and EPEF by 6.4, 6.3, 5.9 and 7.1%, respectively, and an increase in (<i>p</i> = 0.02) cFCR by 2.0%. The tibia dry matter and tibia ash content of these birds were also reduced (<i>p</i> < 0.001) by 3.8 and 4.0% points, respectively. PHY diets improved (<i>p</i> < 0.05) BW, ADG, ADFI, EPEF and cFCR by 8.0, 8.3, 7.3, 10.6 and 2.8%, respectively. Phytase addition at 500 FTU/kg diet also increased (<i>p</i> < 0.001) the tibia dry matter and tibia ash content by 3.5 and 4.2% points, respectively. The pcd of P was improved (<i>p</i> < 0.001) by 11.1 and 11.3% points, in comparison with NC and PC diets, respectively, when phytase was added. These performance parameters and tibia mineralization obtained with a diet supplemented with phytase were comparable to or better than the PC diet. The results demonstrated that avP and Ca could be lowered similarly by 0.15% points in broilers diets by using the new bacterial 6-phytase at 500 FTU/kg diet.