Barley and full-fat canola seed in broiler diets

Barley and full-fat canola seed (FFCS), with or without an added enzyme mixture, were evaluated in experiments with broiler chicks. In Experiment 1, test diets contained barley, wheat, and soybean meal and were supplemented or unsupplemented with raw FFCS (10%) or canola meal (6%). The control was a wheat-soybean meal diet. Diets were fed to male and female broiler chicks for 7 wk. The diet supplemented with raw FFCS produced significantly (P less than .05) lower weight gains than the other diets. There were elevated levels (P less than .05) of linoleic and linolenic acids (18:2 omega 6; 18:3 omega 3) in tissue lipids of chicks fed raw FFCS. In Experiment 2, broiler chicks were fed diets containing a steam-pelleted barley-FFCS mixture (80:20), included at a 50% level, along with supplemental barley. Total barley level in the experimental diets was 50%. 45%, and 40%. A barley-soybean meal diet was used as a control. All diets were fed with and without an enzyme supplement. Chicks fed the barley-FFCS diets were similar to those fed the control diet in respect to production parameters and carcass characteristics. Supplementation of diets with the enzyme mixture resulted in significantly larger body weight gains and lower feed:gain ratios. In Experiment 3, enzyme supplementation increased (P less than .01) the ME of the steam-pelleted barley-FFCS mixtures and the mixed feed containing barley-FFCS. Data from Experiment 4 indicated that there were no significant differences in availability among amino acids from barley, FFCS, or pelleted barley-FFCS mixture diets.