A 2 × 2 × 2 factorial arrangement was conducted to evaluate the effects of cereal type (corn vs. wheat), enzyme supplementation (0 or 0.4 g/kg diet), and sodium butyrate addition (0 or 2 g/kg diet) on growth performance, carcass traits and intestinal morphology of male broilers from 10 to 42 d. A total of 600 male Arbor Acres chickens were assigned to eight dietary treatments in a completely randomized design, providing five replicate pens per treatment. Diets were formulated to meet or exceed NRC nutrient recommendations. When compared with birds fed corn-based diets, chickens fed wheat-based diets had inferior weight gain (1978 vs. 1807 g, p < 0.01) and feed per gain ratio (1.81 vs. 1.93; p < 0.01). Both weight gain (1870 vs. 1915 g; p < 0.01) and feed intake (3511 vs. 3556 g; p < 0.01) were increased by enzyme addition to experimental diets. Feed intake significantly (p < 0.01) increased by sodium butyrate addition to experimental diets; however, no significant differences were observed in weight gain or feed per gain ratio when sodium butyrate added to experimental diets. The birds fed wheatbased diet had higher relative weights of the proventriculus (p < 0.01), gizzard (p < 0.05), liver (p < 0.05), duodenum (p < 0.05), and ceca (p < 0.01) when compared with those fed corn-based diet. Enzyme and sodium butyrate addition had no significant effects (p > 0.05) on the relative weights of the proventriculus, gizzard, pancreas, liver and heart. Cereal type had a significant (p < 0.05) effect on intestinal morphology, including villus height and crypt depth. Jejunal villus height (p < 0.05) and crypt depth (p < 0.01) were improved by sodium butyrate addition. In conclusion, the results of this experiment showed that enzyme and sodium butyrate addition, especially to the wheat based diet, improve growth performance.
