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VARIOUS investigators have demonstrated that increased performance of broilers has resulted when rations were pelleted (Patten et al., 1937; Heywang and Morgan, 1944; Bearse et al., 1952; Lanson and Smyth, 1955; and others). Most of these investigators have attributed this increased performance to increased density of the rations in pellet or crumble form in comparison to mash form, thus increasing feed consumption. Lindblad et al. (1955), however, suggested that the increase in weight and feed efficiency of broilers fed pelleted rations containing high levels of barley was not caused by increased feed consumption. Allred et al. (1957) concluded that a large part of the increased growth and feed efficiency obtained by pelleting may be explained by some chemical change in the ingredients of the ration, possibly the inactivation of a growth inhibitor. The experiments reported in this paper were undertaken to determine the effect of pelleting individual ingredients of a . . .

IN PREVIOUS work with chicks, (Fry et al., 1957) it was shown that a water treatment of pearled barley increased growth and feed efficiency of chicks fed diets containing this grain. Jensen et al. (1957) showed that a significant growth and feed efficiency response to an enzyme preparation was obtained with chicks fed diets containing pearled barley. Rations containing either water treated pearled barley or untreated pearled barley plus the enzyme preparation supported growth and feed efficiency comparable with diets containing corn. The experiments reported herein were conducted with poults to determine (1) the effect of water treatment of different grains; (2) the effect of enzyme supplementation of diets containing different grains; and (3) the effect of different periods of water soaking and autoclaving on the improvement of pearled barley. GENERAL PROCEDURE Broad Breasted Bronze poults from dams maintained on a practical breeder diet were used in these experiments. The . . .

A NUMBER of investigators have shown that various antibiotics in the ration of young chicks and/or turkey poults result in improved growth (Almquist and Merritt, 1951; Atkinson and Couch, 1950; Branion and Hill, 1951; Dixon and Thayer, 1951; Heuser and Norris, 1952; Lillie and Bird, 1952; McGinnis et al., 1950, 1951; Runnels et al., 1951; Williams and Hill, 1952). Attempts to improve significantly growth of chicks kept in a “new” environment, not previously occupied by chicks, by the addition of various antibiotics have been unsuccessful (Coates el al., 1951; Gordon, 1952). Bird et al. (1952) showed a chick growth response to aureomycin only after three to four weeks of age in a new environment while the response to the same antibiotic was evident after one week in an old environment, Libby and Schaible (1955) and Waibel et al. (1954) suggested that the continuous use of antibiotics over a long period . . .

RECENTLY, experiments have shown a marked improvement in growth and feed utilization when diets containing barley were supplemented with enzymes (Jensen et al., 1957; Fry et al., 1958a; Dobson and Anderson, 1958; and Willingham et al., 1959). Diets containing barley supplemented with enzymes supported chick growth almost equal to that of a diet containing corn. Fry et al. (1958b) and Arscott (1958) suggested that the depressed growth and feed efficiency, which resulted when the corn component was replaced by barley, was due to a deficiency of available energy. Leong et al. (1958) found that the metabolizable energy of pearled barley was markedly increased by water treatment or by fungal enzyme supplementation. Because it has been shown that the nutritional value of barley can be improved by enzyme supplementation, it was desirable to determine the stability of these enzyme mixtures in feeds subjected to pelleting and storage. Results of such studies…

THE ability of chicks to balance their diets, within limits, by selection of individual ingredients has been demonstrated (Funk, 1932). It has been generally accepted that the taste buds of the chicken are few in number and are rudimentary. The word “palatability” has had little meaning to the nutritionists in formulation of poultry rations, because any ration which is adequate nutritionally is generally “palatable.” Recently, it has been shown that chicks can discriminate among compounds in solution (Kare et al., 1957; Jacobs and Scott, 1957). The preference of the developing turkey for corn, wheat and oats over barley has been demonstrated (Robertson and Wilhelm, 1940). The choice of oats over barley cannot be explained on the basis of productive energy value (Fraps, 1946). The experiments reported herein were designed to determine if chicks would preferentially consume complete rations of different composition offered on a free choice basis. One experiment concerning . . .

THE difference in nutritional value of corn and barley for poultry has been recognized for decades. A quantitative measure of this difference was given by Fraps (1946) in terms of productive energy content of the two grains. Based on his results with chicks, barley has only about 70% the feeding value of corn. In the same paper dehulled barley was reported to have about 82% of the productive energy of corn. If one examines the proximate analysis of corn, barley and dehulled barley as presented in Table 1, (Fraps, 1946), it appears that the feeding value of these grains should be more nearly the same. This is especially true for corn and dehulled barley. The nitrogen free extracts of both barley and corn are approximately the same. This comparison suggests that the major difference in feeding value might be due to a difference in availability of the carbohydrate portion, other . . .

IN RECENT years several ingredients have been shown to contain certain factor(s) necessary for maximum early growth. An extensive review concerning these factor(s) was presented in an article by Branion and Hill (1953). A number of experiments have been conducted in this laboratory to study the turkey poult’s need for unidentified factors. The results of these studies have been variable. Growth responses have been obtained in some experiments, but not in others, to supplements considered to be sources of unidentified factor(s). Because of these differences between experiments, an experiment was repeated seven times to determine the influence of the period of hatching during the breeding season on results. Turkey poults hatched from eggs laid by the same breeding flock were used to obtain data on variability in growth response during a six month period. A mixture of materials thought to be sources of unidentified factors was used to supplement a . . .

Fry et al. (1957a) have recently shown that a simple water treatment of ground pearled barley markedly improved its nutritional value. Diets containing water-treated barley supported chick growth equal to that given by a diet containing corn. Feed efficiency obtained with the treated barley diets was significantly better than that for chicks fed the diet in which corn replaced the barley. Hastings (1946) found that addition of a diastatic enzyme material to a high fiber chick diet improved growth and feed efficiency. This preparation was without effect when added to a low fiber diet in which wheat and oats replaced the milling byproducts. Neither of the diets contained barley. Other studies (Arscott et al., 1955; and Fry et al., 1957b) strongly suggest that the depressed growth and feed efficiency which results when the corn component of a chick diet is replaced by either barley or pearled barley is due to . . .

SummaryThe results obtained in 2 independent experiments demonstrated that a simple water treatment of pearled barley markedly improved the nutritional value of this cereal grain. Treated barley was equal to corn for chick growth. The diet containing treated pearled barley gave significantly better (P