Barley is the grain base for pig production in Western Canada. Its successful use depends upon appropriate supplementation. Good barley contains only 90% of recommended digestible energy (DE) for growingfinishing pigs. Barley is highly variable in DE, protein and amino acid content, being affected by varietal, agronomic and climatic factors. High fibre content is associated with reduced DE cont...

It has been suggested that large foregut-fermenting marsupial herbivores, the kangaroos and their relatives, may be less constrained by food intake limitations as compared with ruminants, due mainly to differences in their digestive morphology and management of ingesta particles through the gut. In particular, as the quality of forage declines with increasing contents of plant fibre (cellulose,...

1. The present work was undertaken to study the effects of cooking, pH and polyphenol level on carbohydrate composition and nutritional quality of sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench). Three different sorghum varieties; Dabar, Feterita and Argentine containing zero, intermediate to low and high levels of polyphenols respectively were used in the study. From these varieties uncooked, uncooked a...

The low intake and digestibility of low-quality roughages such as mature forages or crop residues often results in a digestible energy intake insufficient for a desired level of production. One alternative to increase digestible energy intake is to provide supplementary concentrates of high digestibility. ‘ Associative effects on forage fibre digestion may occur when roughage and concentrate ar...

Lentil (Lens culinaris) straw as such and its total mixed ration (TMR) were evaluated in the diet of growing Barberi male kids. Experiment was conducted in two groups of five Barberi male kids in each group. They were fed either ad libitum lentil straw (LS) or LS based TMR (LSTMR). Lentil straw alone was a superior (CP, 9.21%) feed ingredient for kids but having quite high crude fibre (39.59%) ...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS It is frequently assumed that dietary non-digestible carbohydrates improve host resistance to intestinal infections by stimulating the protective gut microflora. However, compelling scientific evidence from in vivo infection studies is lacking. Therefore, we studied the effect of several non-digestible carbohydrates on the resistance of rats to Salmonella enteritidis infecti...

The 'gold standard' method for the measurement of total dietary fibre is that of the Association of Official Analytical Chemists (2000; method 985.29). This procedure has been modified to allow measurement of soluble and insoluble dietary fibre, and buffers employed have been improved. However, the recognition of the fact that non-digestible oligosaccharides and resistant starch also behave phy...

The importance of dietary fibre fractions in animal feeding is due to its influence on the rate of passage, mucosal functionality and its role as substrate for gut microbiota that relates to performance and digestive health. The complexity of the physical structure and chemical composition of polysaccharides in plant cell walls explains the wide and different physiological effects of this large...

Characterization of the carbohydrates of pea (Pisum sativum) hulls, carrot and cabbage using both colorimetric and gas-liquid chromatographic techniques permitted a detailed investigation into the extent of digestion of differing types of fibre. These digestion studies were greatly aided by the development of a rapid bioassay employing starved adult cockerels. Total collection of undigested res...