Effect of rice polishing and phytase supplementation in diets on productive behavior of broilers

The addition of rice polishing (RP) and phytase enzyme to poultry diets was tested on 200 1-day-old broilers weighing 42 g. Birds were assigned to a completely random design with a 2 x 2 factorial arrangement with four treatments and five repetitions of ten birds each. The factors evaluated were RP level (0 and 15 %) and phytase (0 and 150 g/ton). The trial was divided in two phases of 21 days each (42 days total). In phase 1, no treatment effects were observed (P > 0.10) on poultry productive behavior. In the second phase (21 to 42 days) and on the total trial (1 to 42 days), there were no effects of the treatments on weight gain or feed intake (P > 0.10). Feed conversion was affected by RP (P < 0.01) but not by phytase addition (P > 0.10). In conclusion, phytase did not affect broiler production with or without RP. Addition of 15 % RP in poultry diets represents an alternative to reduce feed costs.