The Use of Barley in High-Efficiency Broiler Rations

Allred et al. (1956) have reported increased growth of chicks fed high-efficiency corn-type rations either in pelleted or reground pellet form. They suggest that a part of the observed response is due to a chemical change in the corn component of the ration rather than entirely to increased density of the feed. The experiments to be reported in this paper were an attempt, therefore, to determine if the marked improvement in performance following the pelleting of high-barley diets (Arscott et al., 1957) might not be attributable to such a chemical change resulting from the pelleting process. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE Experiment 1 consisted of fifteen lots of sixteen day-old, sexed New Hampshire×Delaware chicks whereas experiment 2 involved eighteen lots of ten chicks from the same type mating. Each group was composed of an equal number of males and females. All chicks were raised to four weeks in batteries equipped with raised wire . . .