The nutritive value of barley, maize, oats and wheat for poultry

Abstract

The crude compositions of samples of barley, maize, oats and wheat are given together with a more detailed analysis of the protein and carbohydrate fractions. The nutritional potential of these samples to the laying hen has been investigated using colostomised birds. By regression analysis of absorption on intake, the true digestibility of the crude protein was calculated to be 83.6, 82.2, 85.0 and 847%, that of the crude fat 92.5, 94.9, 95.0 and 92.5% and that of the carbohydrate 73.0, 87.2, 52.1 and 81.1% for barley, maize, oats and wheat respectively. The true digestibility coefficients of some amino acids are also given. The classical meta‐bolisable energy values of the barley, maize, oat and wheat samples studied were found to be 11.12, 13.21, 11.05 and 12.18 MJ/kg (2.66, 3.16, 2.64 and 2.91 kcal/g) respectively. It is concluded that there is scope for improving the digestibility of the protein in all the cereals studied and that digestibility of the non‐starch carbohydrate fraction is very low.