The composition of the diet affects the gastrointestinal microflora in broiler chickens.
In particular, the presence of viscous polysaccharides has been shown to increase
the intestinal microbial activity associated with poor broiler growth performance .
An increased microbial bile acid deconjugation, which leads to impaired lipid digestion,
has been suggested to be partly responsible for poor broiler performance. Feed
enzymes can reduce the bacterial activity in the ileum by reducing the amount of nutrients
available for microbial fermentation Bedford and Apajalahti
(2001) suggested that feed enzymes work in two steps, which may be described as an