Using complete diet and Sibbald methods to determine the metabolizable energy of 5 Iranian wheat varieties

Abstract

To determine the ME contents of 5 Iranian wheat varieties (Alvand, Zarrin, Sabalan, Sardari, and Azar2), 2 experiments were conducted. In experiment 1, the AMEn content of 5 wheat varieties was determined by complete diet method containing 62.06% of a test cereal grain (with or without an appropriate commercial enzyme). Diets were consumed ad libitum by sixty 21-d-old Ross 308 male broiler chicks. The AMEn values (kilocalories per kilogram of cereal grain, DM basis) were determined from gross energy of diet and collected excreta during 56 h at the end of the experiment. In experiment 2, 36 adult roosters were used to determine the TMEn content of the varieties by the precision feeding method. The AMEn content was not significantly affected by varieties. The AMEn of wheat varieties without enzyme supplementation varied from 3,120 to 3,191 kcal/kg. The AMEn was significantly affected by enzyme supplementation. Enzyme addition produced an average increase of 11.45% AMEn content of wheat varieties. The TMEn of wheat varieties varied from 3,788 (Sabalan variety) to 3,947 kcal/kg (Zarrin variety), and TMEn content was affected significantly by wheat varieties. Strong correlation was seen between broiler chick performance and AMEn of wheat varieties that determinate with the complete diet method in wheat-based diets. It is suggested that the AMEn obtained from the complete diet method should be applied in young broiler diets formulation. © 2013 Poultry Science Association, Inc.