Chemical and biological methods were used to determine the nutritional value of three recently developed strains of hulless barley compared with a commercially grown hull-containing cultivar in Poland. The following quality criteria were used: protein content and composition, dietary fibre (DF) and non-cellulose polysaccharides (NCP), protein (TD) and dry matter digestibility (DMD) as well as biological value (BV) and protein utilization (NPU) in rats. All tested hulless barleys had higher protein contents (15.3 vs 13.4%) but lower lysine concentrations in their protein (2.86 vs. 3.14) than the hull-containing one. The lack of hulls in barley resulted in lower insoluble dietary fibre (IDF) and insoluble arabinoxylan contents (by 44 and 41%, respectively) and in a higher soluble jS-glucan (by 58%) content. In rats, TD and DMD were positively correlated with protein content (r = 0.80 and 0.78) and negatively with IDF content (r =-0.75 and-0.95). It seems, therefore, that the nutritive value of hulless barleys was distinctly better than that of the hull-containing cultivar.

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Feeding a diet containing 80% rye grain with a very high (7%) content of soluble dietary fibre to broiler chicks aged from 4 to 25 days resulted in severe damage of intestinal villi and the mucous membranes of the duodenum and small intestine. Similar changes were also observed in chicks receiving the rye diet with an addition of probiotics containing lactic acid bacteria.The addition of the antibiotic nisine at a rate of 2g/kg of the rye diet protected the intestinal villi. Nisine caused increase of feed intake and body weight gain without improving feed utilization.The rye diets, both with and without probiotics and nisine, did not induce changes in the amount and types of coliform, anaerobic or Gram ( + ) and Gram ( -) bacteria in the faeces of chicks after 10 and 21 days of feeding as compared with initial level.

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