Production responses and serum lipid concentration of broiler chickens fed diets based on oat bran and extracted oat bran with and without enzyme supplementation

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Abstract
Broiler chickens were fed diets based on oat bran or oat bran that had been extracted with ethanol in order to remove tocotrienols and other ethanol‐soluble components. The diets were fed ad libitum with and without a supplementary fibre degrading enzyme, except for the enzyme‐supplemented diet based on oat bran which was fed at a restricted level equal to the intake of chickens fed the corresponding unsupplemented diet. Enzyme supplementation dramatically improved chicken live weights and feed conversion efficiencies and also feed intake for those fed ad libitum. Chickens fed the unsupplemented diets had low and similar serum triglyceride and cholesterol concentrations whereas birds fed enzyme‐supplemented diets had higher serum cholesterol concentrations. Results obtained indicate that, in the present study, the dietary fibre (mainly soluble mixed‐linked (1→3), (1→4)‐β‐D‐glucans) had a greater influence on serum cholesterol concentrations than tocotrienols and other ethanol‐soluble components, which were effectively extracted by the procedure employed. The importance of meal frequency was also demonstrated by the high triglyceride and serum cholesterol concentrations obtained for chickens fed on a restricted basis.