Influence of sapropel on the activity of intestinal peptidases of broiler chickens

Abstract

At the beginning of the experiment, the weight of weekly cockerels of the Hisex White egg cross (n = 90) was 64.6 ± 0.47 g. At the age of one week old, 3 groups (30 birds in each group) were formed. They received complete feed. The first group served as a control. The chickens of the second and third groups received combined fodder, in which 3% and 5% of the feed weight was replaced with dry sapropel. The dry sapropel (3% of the daily feed weight) increased the activity of casein-lytic and hemoglobin-lytic peptidases in the chyme by 1.5 (Р<0.05), in large intestine mucosa by 1.3 (Р<0.05) and in small intestine mucosa by 1.7 times (Р<0.01) compared with the control. The increase of sapropel concentration in feed up to 5% did not lead to a further increase in the activity of peptidases. The activity of peptidases were minimal at pH 5 and pH 12 and reached maximal at pH 7–8. The optimal dose of dry sapropel introduced into the diet of chickens to that stimulated the digestive processes is 3% of the mass of feed.