Polysaccharide composition of Australian wheats and the digestibility of their starches in broiler chicken diets

Abstract

The polysaccharide compositions of 20 wheat varieties from New South Wales and Western Australia were determined. Mean pentosan and â-glucan contents ranged from 5.7 1 to 8.18% and from 0.61 to 0.87% respectively, on a dry matter basis. Starch contents ranged from 61.5 to 68.9% and the wheat starches were between 21.1 and 31.8% amylose. The starch digestibility of the wheats was found to be independent of the levels or composition of the polysaccharides when assayed using 5-week-old broiler chickens.