Nutritive value of a new hull-less barley cultivar in broiler chick diets

The hull-less barley mutant Franubet, derived from Betzes (CI 6398), has an unusual starch type, with granules that appear fractured when viewed with an electron microscope. Hull-less Franubet barley from three crops and a hulled barley, Ershabet (CI 15722) were used in a series of 21-day broiler chick feeding studies using 21% protein diets supplemented with 44% protein soybean meal, DL-methionine, minerals, vitamins, and an antibiotic. Barley-containing diets were compared with corn diets in varying proportions as basal grains. Supplemental beta-glucanase added to Franubet diets resulted in improvement in chick growth over that of birds fed diets unsupplemented with beta-glucanase. In some cases, chicks fed Franubet barley with or without the supplemental enzyme had weight gains equal to those fed corn. Feed:gain ratios corresponded to weight gain results. In one trial, Ershabet barley, a hulled cultivar, was compared with Franubet barley, with and without beta-glucanase, and corn as basal grains. Results from feeding both barleys were equal to those of feeding corn when supplemented with enzyme, although performance of the hull-less cultivar tended to be superior with respect to chick body weight gain and feed:gain ratio. Franubet barley appears to have high nutrient digestibility for poultry compared with other barleys.