Why Use Xylanase?

As mentioned in my previous email, this email will discuss the importance of xylanase enzymes.

Some of the Non starch polysaccharides (NSPs) typically present in grains and oilseeds are arabinoxylans and heteroxylans. Hence, there is potential for increasing dietary energy as well as improving digestion by supplementing xylanases in poultry diets.

Xylanase supplementation is often associated with diets based on wheat. This is largely because xylanases were first used with wheat-based poultry rations in Europe, as well as the fact that arabinoxylans make up a large portion of the NSP present in wheat.

Bach-Knudsen, Knud Erik, 1997. Carbohydrate and lignin content of plant materials used in animal feeding. Anim. Feed Sci. Tech. 67: 319 - 338.

Xylanases, however, also have potential benefits in corn and soybean meal based rations. Corn typically contains about 9.9% NSP on a dry matter basis, of which approximately 6% is made up of arabionoxylans (see above).

Soybean meal contains approximately 22% NSP, of which about 9% is made up of arabinoxylans.

Thus, the potential exists for xylanases to liberate energy from the NSP contained in corn and soybean meal-based rations.

One important consideration to remember regarding all enzymes is that they react with a specific substrate, and xylanases are no exception. As such, xylanases differ, and cannot be compared quantitatively from product to product. For instance, below it can be seen that an arabinoxylan typically requires four specific xylanase activities to be broken down to a simple sugar.

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For different arabinoxylans, however (such as the highly branched arabinoxylans found in corn), a different sequence of xylanase activity is required to effectively break down the NSP.

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Therefore, enzyme products which contain multiple xylanase activities should have higher potential for improving digestibility over a broader range of feedstuffs.

As arabinoxylans represent a large portion of the NSP present in most cereal grains and oilseeds, it is evident why so many commercial carbohydrase enzymes seek to express xylanase activity.


In our next Rovabio Mail, we will examine the enzyme β-glucanase.