Rapid Tests of Wheat Nutritive Value for Growing Chickens

Two series of broiler chicken feeding experiments quantified the differences in growth performance of broiler chickens fed either six different U.K. wheat cultivars from one harvest year or six wheat samples that comprised two cultivars (Dean and Beaver) each grown in three harvest years. Differences in broiler growth performance were compared to four rapid tests of wheat quality (specific weight, Hagberg falling number, water-extract viscosity and endosperm hardness) and the determined true metabolisable energy. Broilers fed the cultivar Dean had higher (P<0·001) weight gains and lower (P<0·05) feed conversion ratios compared to those fed Beaver. Samples from a harvest year (1992) in which there was high rainfall in the month during which harvest occurred resulted in lower (P<0·05) broiler feed conversion ratios. Endosperm hardness and water-extract viscosity were both linearly related (P<0·05) to differences in broiler feed conversion ratios but there was no (P>0·05) reduction in unaccountable variation from including both variables in a multiple regression analysis. The measurement of endosperm hardness by near infra-red spectroscopy is rapid and has the potential to be used to discriminate nutritive value between wheat samples on their arrival at poultry feed mills.