Nutrient Digestibility of Wheat in Rats and Chickens Depending on the Rye 1B/1R Translocation of Wheat Varieties

Abstract

Abstract A major part of wheat production is channelized towards animal feed. In the present experiment, we first aimed to determine the relationship of the crude protein (CP) content and the individual fractions (albumin + globulin, gliadin, glutenin) of wheat varieties (with or without the rye translocation 1B/1R) with the digestibility, feed intake, feed conversion, and protein efficiency ratio (PER) of the feed in ROSS 308 chicken broilers. Secondly, we determined the CP content, biological value, net protein utilization, and effect of various fibre components of the same wheat lines in Wistar rats. Seven out of sixteen wheat varieties studied herein included the 1B/1R translocation. Nutritional values were evaluated by the Weende analysis using the Kjeldahl and the Henneberg–Stohmann methods. Moreover, acid detergent fibre and neutral detergent fibre contents, CP digestibility and PER were determined. In broiler chickens, no statistically significant differences were found. In rats, however, the presence of 1B/1R significantly increased the CP content, affecting the nutritional value. This should be considered prior to the indiscriminate use of otherwise undesirable wheat varieties as animal feed.