Influence of Enzyme Supplementation and Water Treatment on the Nutritional Value of Different Grains for Poults

Abstract

IN PREVIOUS work with chicks, (Fry et al., 1957) it was shown that a water treatment of pearled barley increased growth and feed efficiency of chicks fed diets containing this grain. Jensen et al. (1957) showed that a significant growth and feed efficiency response to an enzyme preparation was obtained with chicks fed diets containing pearled barley. Rations containing either water treated pearled barley or untreated pearled barley plus the enzyme preparation supported growth and feed efficiency comparable with diets containing corn. The experiments reported herein were conducted with poults to determine (1) the effect of water treatment of different grains; (2) the effect of enzyme supplementation of diets containing different grains; and (3) the effect of different periods of water soaking and autoclaving on the improvement of pearled barley. GENERAL PROCEDURE Broad Breasted Bronze poults from dams maintained on a practical breeder diet were used in these experiments. The . . .