Growth and lipid metabolism as affected by feeding of hull-less barleys with and without supplemental beta-glucanase.

Three hull-less barleys, Washonupana (WSNP), Waxbar (WXB), and Bangsa (BGS), were fed to broiler chicks in 21% protein diets containing 0.5% cholesterol in replicate trials. A corn-based diet, with added cholesterol, served as a control. Alternate diets were supplemented with beta-glucanase (ENZ). beta-glucan content ranged from 4.9% to 6.1% and soluble dietary fiber (SDF) from 3.6% to 7.5% in the barleys. Data from the two trials were pooled for statistical analysis by the SAS General Linear Models procedure. In body weight gain, chicks fed WSNP-ENZ were lower (P less than 0.05) than all other treatments. The beta-glucanase supplement to the WXB and BGS barley tended to improve gains, but the differences were not significant for either barley. Feed to gain ratios were lowest (P less than 0.0001) for corn fed chicks and lower (P less than 0.05 to P less than 0.0001) for those fed the barley + ENZ diets compared to barley -ENZ. Chicks fed barley diets had lower (P less than 0.05) total serum cholesterol (TSC) and LDL-cholesterol than those fed corn diets, regardless of ENZ supplementation. For chicks on barley -ENZ diets, TSC levels for WSNP, WXB, and BGS were 146, 152, and 142 mg/dl respectively and for chicks on barley + ENZ diets, 218, 200, and 178 mg/dl. LDL-cholesterol levels followed the same trend and there was little difference in serum triglycerides. The BGS + ENZ lowered TSC 30% from the corn control compared to 10.7% and 18% for WSNP + ENZ and WXB + ENZ, suggesting additional hypocholesterolemic factors, possibly tocotrienol and SDF other than 1----3, 1----4 beta-D-glucans.