RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN METABOLIZABLE ENERGY VALUES FOR POULTRY AND SOME PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL DATA DESCRIBING CANADIAN WHEATS, OATS AND BARLEYS

Abstract

Thirty-five samples of wheat, 28 samples of oats and 40 samples of barley were assayed for metabolizable energy, dry matter, bulk weight, 1,000-kernel weight, gross energy, nitrogen, ether extract, crude fibre, soluble sugars, starch, ash, calcium, total phosphorus and phytin phosphorus. The resulting data were used to test a series of indirect assays for metabolizable energy and to develop new prediction equations based on the same and different combinations of variables. Regression equations fitted to the sample data did not perform significantly better than the prediction equations found in the literature. Over the limited range of variation represented in the samples, no linear trends were found that contradicted the parameters of the prediction equations. However, certain of the prediction equations were found to be more successful than others.