Insight into the chemical composition of wheat used in European broiler diets

In Europe, wheat is commonly used in broiler diets. The chemical composition and energy value of wheat can vary considerably between different wheat cultivars or due to different growing and post-harvest storage conditions. The current study assessed the chemical composition in 153 batches of wheat used for poultry feeds from 15 European countries over 5 years of harvest. The non-starch polysaccharide (NSP)-composition, the concentration of starch and protein and the extract viscosity were analysed. The concentration of starch and protein ranged between 558 and 680 g/kg dry matter (DM) and 92 and 173 g/kg DM respectively. The concentration of water-extractable (WE) and water-unextractable (WU) NSP ranged between 8.7 and 18.3 and 58.1 and 99.6 g/kg DM respectively. The variation was the largest in the WE fraction of the NSP (CV 14.3%). The concentration of WE-NSP was positively correlated with extract viscosity (r = 0.46; P < 0.001) and this was caused by the WE-arabinoxylan fraction (r = 0.59; P < 0.001) in particular. In conclusion, the present results confirm the variable composition of European wheat batches, especially for the WE-fraction of the NSP and highlight the need for considering the concentration of NSP in the practice of feed formulation.