RED DEER, Alta. – Ongoing work into the benefits of feeding barley to laying hens has shown it performs as well, if not better than feed wheat.
Lloyd Campbell of the University of Manitoba is working with hulless barley for laying-hen diets and found in some cases, the same egg production was noted with less feed intake.
When animals or birds eat hulless barley they need dietary enzymes to aid digestion. This decreases the viscosity effect of hulless barley caused by beta glucans found in the grain, he told the Alberta Barley Commission. The commission is funding his research.
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“With enzymes added and hulless barley we have maintained at least the same egg production level and improved feed efficiency,” he said.
Campbell is evaluating five varieties of hulless barley for available energy and essential amino acid digestibility.
When beta glucan is digested by the bird, it absorbs water and becomes syrupy. This slows the movement of the food inside the intestinal tract and prevents proper absorption of nutrients.
Without the enzymes, barley-based diets were more difficult for the birds to digest. This resulted in poor growth rates and wet droppings that increased management concerns.
When the enzyme beta-glucanase was added to the feed mix, hulless barley became a good choice for chickens resulting in a 10 percent improvement in feed conversion efficiency. The supplement costs about $5 per tonne of feed.
Older birds seem to have fewer digestion problems compared to broiler chickens, which can start eating processed hulless barley from the first day of life.
It is a good substitute for corn and with the enzyme has the same energy level as corn. It is also more available and cheaper for western producers.
Another advantage over some other cereals is that barley produces lighter-colored eggs, white skin and white, harder fat, which is a preferred by Canadian and foreign poultry consumers.
