Abstract

REZAEI, M.; DEHGHAN, M.  and  AYATOLLAHY, M.. Determination of metabolisable energy of five cultivars of hulless barley using adult leghorn cockerels. S. Afr. j. anim. sci. [online]. 2008, vol.38, n.1, pp.28-30. ISSN 2221-4062.

Hulless barley contains more digestible nutrients than do whole barleys due to a lower content of indigestible fibre, but also contains a higher concentration of β-glucans. The chemical composition and apparent metabolisable energy (AME) of five cultivars (3, 7, 12, 15 and KC-31) of hulless barley were determined with adult Leghorn cockerels using a precision-feeding method. Cultivars KC-31 and 15 had the highest (121 g/kg) and lowest (87 g/kg) levels of crude protein, respectively. The AME_n for the five cultivars was 13.91, 12.20, 12.88, 13.23 and 10.95 MJ/kg DM, respectively. The true metabolisable energy corrected for nitrogen of the above cultivars was 14.37, 12.66, 13.34, 13.69 and 11.41 MJ/kg DM, respectively. Cultivar 3 contained the highest AME and TME levels, and differences between cultivars were significant. In general hulless barley can be used as a source of energy in poultry diets.

Keywords : Hulless barley cultivars; apparent metabolisable energy; true metabolisable energy; poultry.

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