New Approaches to Evaluation of Digestive Function in Chickens

Abstract

The activity of digestive enzymes in the blood of chickens has been studied using the current biochemical methods. The digestive enzyme activity level in blood is proven to be associated with intestinal function. Typsin is the most volatile digestive enzyme since its activity significantly increases 1 h after the feed intake. The calculation of the blood digestive enzyme index as the ratio of the total lipase and amylase activities to the trypsin activity has been proposed to evaluate the physiological condition and health of the digestive system in the animals.