Effects of hull-less barley and enzyme supplementation (Endofeed) on nutrients digestibility and apparent metabolisable energy content of diets for broilers

This experiment was conducted to study the effect of different dietary inclusion levels of hull-less barley and enzyme on the apparent metabolisable energy (AME) content and nutrients digestibility of diets for broilers. The chicks (256 and 180 male broiler chicks for starter and fisher periods، respectively) were fed with one of 3 levels of enzyme (0، 300 and 600 g/ton) and 4 levels of hull-less barley (0، 10، 20 and 30%) in a completely randomized design according to a 3 × 4 factorial arrangement. The AME content and nutrients digestibility of each diet (fed to the chicks on 14 – 21 and 40 – 45 days of age) were determined by measuring the respective marker (chromic oxide) ratios between diet and excreta (collected on days 18-20 and 40-44) or ileal digesta (collected on days 21 and 45 after slaughtering). Based on the results of this study، dietary enzyme supplementation did not show any improvement in AME content and the nutrients digestibility of the diets. Hull-less barley inclusion in the diets reduced dietary AME and ileal and total tract digestibility of organic matter، crude protein، crude fat and starch in the starting period (p<0. 01)، but did not significantly influence the nutrient digestibility (with except to crude fat) and AME in the finishing period. Therefore، it can be concluded that high amount of hull-less barley in finishing diets can be fed to broilers without any significant adverse effect on AME content and the nutrients digestibility.