The effects of wet feeding and a multi-enzyme preparation on the nutritional value of wheat screenings (WS) for broiler chicks were investigated. In total, 540 1-day-old Ross-308 broiler chicks were fed a corn–soybean meal-based diet up to 29 days of age. At that time, the birds were randomly assigned to nine diets in a completely randomised design with a 3 · 3 factorial arrangement, including three levels of WS (0%, 25% and 50%, WS0, WS25 and WS50 respectively) and three processing methods (no processing, enzyme supplementation and wet feeding). The enzyme mixture contained endo-1, 4-b-xylanase (200 FXU/g), endo-1, 4-b-glucanase (50 FBG/g), endo-1, 8-b-glucanase (21 FBG/g), hemicellulase (3000 VHCU/g), a-galactosidase (3 GALU/g) and protease (260 U/g) and was supplemented at a level of 6 g/kg of diet. The inclusion of water in wet diets was in the extent of 1.2 kg/kg of diet. During the period from 29 to 49 days of age, feed intake was not affected (P > 0.05) by the inclusion of WS in the diet, whereas chicks fed the WS25 diet had a higher (P < 0.05) bodyweight gain than did those on WS0 diet. The feed conversion ratio (FCR) was improved (P < 0.05) by the inclusion of WS in the diet throughout the study. The feed intake was increased (P < 0.05) by enzyme supplementation to WS50 diet, while bodyweight gain was increased (P < 0.05) by wet feeding. Enzyme supplementation did not affect (P > 0.05) FCR, whereas wet feeding resulted in lower (P < 0.05) FCR over the entire study. The plasma concentration of glucose was increased (P < 0.05) by the inclusion of WS in the diet. The viscosity of the ileal digesta was higher (P < 0.05) in chicks receiving the WS50 diet than that in chicks receiving the other diets. The jejunal villus height was increased (P < 0.05) and the jejunal crypt depth was decreased (P < 0.05) by the inclusion of WS in diet. The jejunal crypt depth was greater (P < 0.05) in chicks receiving the wet diets than in chicks receiving the enzyme-supplemented
