The metabolizable energy content for the chicken of maize and sorghum grain hybrids grown at several geographical regions

Abstract

Metabolizable energy assays using Australorp chickens were carried out on sorghum and maize hybrids grown in different regions in Queensland and harvested in different years. Relationships between metabolizable energy and the chemical composition of the grains were examined. Some comparisons also were made between the energy metabolized by different strains of chickens. The mean nitrogen-corrected metabolizable energy values and standard deviations for all maize and sorghum grains were 3770 ¦ 154 (n = 48) and 3750 ¦ 239 (n = 39) kcal per kg dry matter, respectively. There were significant differences in metabolizable energy values between locations and years of harvest for both grains. Significant differences were seen between sorghum hybrids, but not between maize hybrids. The interactions, hybrid x region and hybrid x year, also were significant for sorghum. Correlations between metabolizable energy and chemical composition of the grains were not sufficiently high to enable metabolizable energy to be predicted with the accuracy necessary for practical application. Chickens from a White Leghorn and two commercial broiler strains gave similar metabolizable energy values to those obtained with the Australorp chickens.