Daily Times

Pakistan’s poultry industry has emerged as a vital component of the country’s agricultural sector, playing a significant role for fulfilment of protein needs of nation. With a population exceeding 220 million and a per capita consumption of poultry products is on the rise and the industry’s importance continues to grow. Modern poultry farming is an easy and relatively cheap method of meeting the dietary requirements of people.

Over the past few decades, Pakistan’s poultry industry has experienced remarkable growth, evolving from backyard farming to a sophisticated, vertically integrated industry. Today, it contributes significantly to the country’s GDP (1.3%) and provides employment opportunities across the value chain for about 1.5 million people, from farming and processing to distribution and retail. Present turnover of poultry industry is almost 63 billion rupees. Its growth rate is 10-12% per annum.

Pakistani government is investing more economic resources, so it is predictable that this growth will be continued in the coming years. 1.94 million tons of chicken are presently produced, in more than 15,000 farms established throughout the country varying in size, from 5,000 to 500,000 birds. Total meat consumption being procured from poultry products is 40-45% of the total meat required by the population.

Feed is the major factor for high cost of poultry in Pakistan. The animal based feed has ethical issues where as plant based feed is relatively cheaper but the plant based feed have various nutritional components including phytate, xylan, cellulose, complex carbohydrates and proteins that are not being digested completely or partially by poultry birds. These components are simply passing through the digestive tract of birds and being released with manure that may cause environmental pollution and loss of nutrients. This problem can be overcome by supplementing the poultry feed with suitable enzymes.

Enzymes are biomolecules that hydrolyse the complex, non-digestible and non-absorbable nutritional components to simple, digestible and absorbable molecules. The simple nutritional components may be used by the poultry birds as source of energy and for growth. This means same quantity of feed provides higher body weight as compared to feed not supplemented with enzymes.

To improve poultry nutrition, feed efficiency, nutrient utilization, and overall productivity, enzymes play a major role. As the poultry industry continues to evolve and face challenges related to sustainability, efficiency, and consumer demand, the role of enzymes will remain central to optimizing poultry nutrition and ensuring the industry’s long-term viability and success. Continued research and innovation in enzyme technology hold promise for further enhancing poultry nutrition and contributing to the industry’s on-going development. Various enzymes including phytase, cellulase, xylanase, protease and amylase are being used for the supplementation of poultry feed for the breakdown of phytate, cellulose, xylan, proteins and carbohydrates, respectively.

Current study deals with the production, purification and characterization of a-amylase from a hyper-thermophilic bacterial strain. This enzyme is responsible for the breakdown of a 1-4 glycosidic linkage in starch and non-starch polysaccharides that results in the conversion of complex carbohydrates to glucose. The glucose being produced due to a-amylase activity serves as an additional source of energy for the enhanced growth rate in poultry birds.

A group of scientists at Institute of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences is working on the production and characterization of the enzymes important for the poultry feed industry. Unfortunately, none of these enzymes are being produced in Pakistan till today and these are being imported by paying a huge foreign exchange. The purpose of this research is to explore and characterize suitable enzymes for the development of “UVAS ENZYMIX” a mixture of various enzymes for the poultry industry of Pakistan. The production of these enzymes at domestic level will reduce the feed production cost and hence will result in the availability of poultry meat at cheaper rate for the population.