Abstract
Experiments were conducted to define the relationship between barley β-glucan content digestible energy (DE) content and true ileal digestible lysine (TILD) content with ileal digesta viscosity. A significant correlation was found between DE content (P<0.05) and TIDL content (P<0.05) to ileal digesta viscosity, but there was no relationship (P>0.05) between these parameters and β-glucan content of the barley cultivars examined. The results suggest that non-starch polysaccharide (NSP) structure rather than content of specific components has more influence on the digestibility of key dietary nutrients.