Research Note: An Evaluation of Soft and Hard Red Winter Wheat for Nitrogen-Corrected True Metabolizable Energy, Crude Protein, and Amino Acid Content

Abstract

One study utilizing 8-wk-old Vantress × Arbor Acres male broilers was conducted to determine the TMEn, crude protein, and amino acid content of five soft and five hard composite red winter wheat cultivars from four farms. Soft cultivars evaluated included Caldwell, Pike, Arthur, Hart, and Delange, and the hard cultivars included Payne, Triumph, Tam 101, Chisholm, and Mustang. Energy availability as judged by TMEn, averaged over cultivar within the soft and hard classification, was similar (P > .10) at 3.30 and 3.32 kcal/g, respectively. Considerable variation existed among cultivars within classification, with Payne exhibiting the highest (3.6 kcal/g) and Delange the lowest (2.9 kcal/g) energy content. Average crude protein concentration was higher (P < .05) for the hard red winter wheat (16.0 versus 13.1%). Expressing amino acids as a percentage of crude protein yielded similar values for all amino acids except glutamic acid, methionine, and valine. Based on the data reported, it was confirmed that the hard red winter wheats contain more crude protein and proportionately more amino acids than the soft red winter wheat cultivars. Further, the data indicated that greater variability exists within rather than between the hard and soft red winter wheat categories for TMEn.