Short Communication: Determination of metabolisable energy of five cultivars of hulless barley using adult Leghorn cockerels

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 AMEn 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, poultrySouth African Journal of Animal Science Vol. 38 (1) 2008: pp. 28-3