Nutritive value of winter wheat for broiler chickens

The nutritive value of Australian winter wheat varieties for broiler chickens was assessed in a series of conventional energy balance studies each of 7-days duration. Across all samples, the mean and standard deviation for apparent metabolisable energy (AME, MJ/kg dry matter) were 14.29±0.36 (n=25) and ranged from 13.68 to 15.02. For individual varieties, means and standard deviations were 14.80±0.03 for Declic (n=2), 14.31±0.33 for Lawson (n=16), 13.97±0.34 for More (n=4) and 14.20±0.09 for Paterson (n=3). In conclusion, winter wheats were consistently high in AME but, nevertheless, were responsive to endo-1,4-xylanase added to the diet. Uplift in AME of wheat due to enzyme supplementation averaged 0.7 MJ/kg (4.9%) and ranged from 0.22 MJ/kg (l.5%) to l.13 MJ/kg (8.2%).