DIGESTIBILITY AND FEEDING VALUE OF HULLESS BARLEY FOR PIGS

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Abstract
A feeding trial and two digestibility trials were conducted to evaluate two isogenic lines of regular (covered) and hulless barley, cvs. Compana and Vantage, compared also with wheat. Eight pigs (4♀, 4♂) were fed each diet over the weight range 22–50 kg. Half of the pigs, randomly selected within sex and diet groups, were used in the digestibility trials, employing chromic oxide markers. The second digestibility trial involved different pigs from the first and a new source of hulless barley. The average daily gain was 0.62 kg and there were no significant differences between rations. Likewise, feed intakes and efficiencies of feed conversion revealed no treatment differences. The digestibility of protein in hulless barley was lower than in regular barley (70 vs. 73% in one trial, 74.8 vs. 79.3% in another) and both types of barley were lower in protein digestibility than wheat (81.4%). Energy digestibility was highest in hulless barleys (77.3 vs. 73.2; 81.8 vs. 77.1%). Hulless barley contained about 5% more digestible energy than regular barley (3,295 vs. 3,133 kcal/kg) and the same digestible crude protein (12.85 vs. 12.90%).