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Abstract
With a human population expected to reach 9.7 billion by 2050, providing high quality animal protein for human consumption will need to be efficient and sustainable. In broiler production, feed accounts for 70% of live production costs. Broiler diets consist mainly of plant-based feed ingredients that contain non-starch polysaccharides (NSP) which are undigestible and excreted by monogastric animals. However, the addition of dietary carbohydrases to poultry diets provides the potential for obtaining nutrients from NSP. Two broiler experiments were conducted from 0-49 days of age using a multi-carbohydrase supplement. In the first experiment it was determined that increasing the particle size of the ground corn, the main ingredient in the diet, is not necessary to achieve maximum activity of the multi-carbohydrase supplement. In the second experiment it was determined that the three dietary concentrations of calcium typically found in broiler diets did not alter the effectiveness of the multi-carbohydrase supplement.