Effect of feeding whole cereals on performance, starch digestibility and duodenal particle size distribution in broiler XXXX .

@entity3505 @entity1573 @entity1017 @entity2247
1. An experiment was conducted to study the effects of whole @entity3505 , oats and @entity2247 at different inclusion levels on performance, starch digestibility, duodenal particle size distribution, gizzard weight and pH of gizzard contents for broiler @entity1573 . 2. Feed consumption and @entity1017 were significantly reduced when ground cereals were replaced by whole cereals (P < 0.05). However, feed conversion efficiency was not affected by inclusion of up to 440 g/kg of whole @entity3505 , and up to 300 g/kg of whole oats and @entity2247 . 3. Duodenal particle size was measured by laser diffraction to below 1 micron in size. A remarkably large proportion of particles were below 100 microns, with as much as 50% of the particles in the duodenum being below 40 microns in size. Inclusion of moderate amounts of whole cereals reduced the duodenal mean particle size. Large inclusions of whole cereals decreased (P < 0.05) the proportion of particles up to 40 microns in size, and increased (P < 0.05) the proportion with size between 100 and 300 microns. 4. Starch digestibility was improved (P < 0.05) by replacing ground @entity3505 or @entity2247 with whole @entity3505 or @entity2247 . 5. There was no consistent effect of cereal species or feed form on the pH value of the gizzard contents.
