This meta-analysis aimed to estimate the standardized ileal digestibility (SID) and the basal ileal endogenous amino acid losses (IAA end ) in barley for growing pigs. In total, 38 different barley treatments published in 26 peer-reviewed papers were used for the meta-analysis containing information on dietary composition including amino acid (AA) contents of the assay diets, and (or) barley samples, as well as apparent ileal digestibility (AID) of AA in barley. The SID of AA was determined by either correcting AID of AA for their IAA end or by regression analysis between the apparent ileal digestible and total dietary AA contents. The SID values obtained by correcting the AID values for their IAA end amounted to 70%, 77%, 74% and 63% for Lys, Met, Thr and Trp, whereas those based on regression analysis method were 82%, 82%, 69% and 55%, respectively. Estimates of basal ileal endogenous loss of CP in ileal digesta varied considerably and averaged 11.84 g/kg dry matter intake (DMI), whereas IAA end for indispensable AA ranged from 0.05 g/kg DMI for Trp to 1.90 g/kg DMI for Leu. In most cases, these estimates were considerably higher than previously reported values for IAA end . The results of the present regression analysis indicate for most AA higher SID values compared with SID of most AA that were obtained by correcting AID values for IAA end . In view of the observed high variations in IAA end and the low CP content of the barley samples, estimating SID of AA based on literature data by means of the regression method may improve accuracy of SID coefficients for barley. In contrast, transformation of AID values into their corresponding SID values by using a constant correction factor for IAA end adds an additional source of error, thereby reducing the precision in estimating SID of AA.Keywords: amino acids, meta-analysis, pigs, standardized ileal digestibility, barley
ImplicationsRegression analyses between the apparent ileal digestible and the total dietary amino acid (AA) content in barley samples have proven to be superior over the calculation of standardized ileal digestibility (SID) by correcting apparent ileal digestibility (AID) values for their ileal endogenous amino acid (IAA end ). According to regression analysis, SID of most AA in barley was >80%, whereas SID of most AA obtained by correcting AID values for IAA end was below 80%. In particular, lower SID of Lys, Thr and Trp in comparison to other indispensable AA need to be compensated for, for example, through supplementation with crystalline AA in barley diets for pigs.
IntroductionThe world production of barley amounts to over 134 million tons annually (FAOSTAT, 2011), therefore, and due to its low purchase cost, barley is the most important crop in diets for livestock after wheat and maize (Leterme et al., 2000;Hennig et al., 2006; FAOSTAT, 2011). The protein content of cereal grains including barley is considerably lower than that of protein supplements such as soya bean meal, but due to their high dietary inclusion level, cereal grains can su...