Improvement of raw potato starch digestion in chickens by feeding oat hulls and other fibrous feedstuffs

Abstract

Ground oat hulls significantly improved the digestion of raw potato starch for male broiler chickens. The improvement was dependent upon the level of oat hulls in the diet and the size of the oat hull particles. Rice hulls and barley hulls were as effective as oat hulls in improving raw potato starch digestion when fibre particles were larger than 1 mm in length. Wheat bran and hemicelluloses isolated from oat hulls had no effect on starch digestion. The improvement in raw potato starch digestion was accompanied by an accumulation of fibre in the gizzard and muscular hypertrophy of this organ. Broken raw potato starch granules were also observed in the gizzard contents.