The digestion of wheat starch in broiler chickens

Abstract

Apparent metabolizable energy (AME) of wheat for 6-week-old male broiler chickens was highly correlated with starch digestibility when pelleted diets containing 820 g wheat per kg were fed. Starch isolated from low-AME wheats was hydrolysed in vitro by chicken pancreatic amylase as rapidly as starch from high-AME wheats. When included in semi-purified diets the isolated starches were completely digestible. Digestibility of starch was poor and highly variable when 3-week-old chickens were fed unpelleted wheat diets, but improved with age. Oat hulls improved the digestibility of starch in young chickens fed unpelleted diets.