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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.
Rogel et al. (Mon,) studied this question.