Feed Value of Germinated Barley for Waterfowl

Abstract

Whole barley was germinated in a germination machine for 48 hours and tested in a balanced test with adult gander and Peking drakes. The germination effected changes in the composition of crude nutrients of the barley. The most important changes were a lower content of starch and higher proportions of crude protein, crude fat and crude fibre. The investigation included estimation of the apparent digestibility of crude protein and organic matter and an estimation of the content of apparent nitrogen corrected metabolizable energy. The digestibility parameters were better for geese but these small differences did not effect the content of metabolizable energy. For geese and ducks, germinated barley has the same feed value. Loss of starch caused by the germination process effected the lower content of metabolizable energy (0.4 MJ/kg) in comparison to the chicken-related values for whole barley.