Performance Characteristics and Nutritional Comparison of Broiler Chickens Fed with Barley and Triticale Based Diets

This study was performed with growing chicken (14 to 56 d of age) to evaluate the effects of feeding them a barley or triticale-based diet. The treatments were corn diet (1) as a control, hulless barley diet with (5) or without (2) enzyme, triticale diet with (6) or without (3) enzyme and hulled barley diet with (7) or without (4) a commercial β-glucanase enzyme. In a digestibility trial, 21 male broiler chicks were used at 45 days old. Each of the seven treatments was replicated three times. No significant difference (P>0.05) was observed between (2) to (7) treatments with corn diet for weight gain and feed intake during growing period, but hulled barley with no treatment (4) had less weight gain and higher feed conversion (lower efficiency) than other cereals. Ether extract digestibility increased significantly in all the enzyme treated diets compared to corn diet (P