Nutritional value of Brazilian wheat, triticale, and barley for pigs: chemical composition and prediction of metabolizable energy

This study was developed to characterize some components of the nutritional matrix of Brazilian wheat, triticale, and barley, identify indicators of nutritional value variability, and predict the N-corrected metabolizable energy (ME n ). Forty-two samples of wheat, triticale, and barley were evaluated in 20 metabolism experiments conducted over 5 years. Eight pigs (replications) were used per treatment (a total of 496 pigs, 54.4 ± 8.89 kg), allotted to the treatments according to initial weight (block) in a randomized block design. The average ME n values determined for wheat, triticale, and barley were 3683 ± 119.4, 3678 ± 111.81, and 3447 ± 188.09 kcal kg DM −1 , respectively. The best model for predicting ME n includes BW, ash, total sugars, and gross energy and provides a reduction of over 56% in the prediction error when compared to using the mean. The relative concentration of some essential amino acids in the protein decreased with increasing protein content, especially lysine in wheat, triticale, and barley ( r = −0.77, −0.72, and − 0.50, respectively), threonine in triticale ( r = −0.61), and valine in barley ( r = −0.58). These results demonstrate the potential of Brazilian winter cereals as an energy source for pigs.