Assessment of Hull-less Barley as a Locally Grown Swine Feed Ingredient in the Mid-Atlantic Region of the United States

Crossbred pigs (six replicate pens of four pigs per treatment, avg. initial BW = 38 kg) were used in a 6-wk growth and digestibility trial to assess a hull-less barley adapted for the mid Atlantic region of the U.S. as the primary ingredient in pelleted diets for growing pigs. There were five experimental diets: 1) a corn-soybean meal-based diet, 2) a diet containing 46% hull-less barley and 1.6% added fat, 3) a diet containing 41% hulled barley and 4.1% added fat, 4) a diet containing 46% hulled barley and 1.6% added fat, and 5) a diet containing 46% wheat and 0.68% added fat. For diets based on small grains, a fixed inclusion rate of 25% corn was used. With the exception of Diet 4, all diets were formulated to be iso-lysinic and iso-caloric. Diet type had no effect (P>0.10) on ADFI or ADG. Pigs fed the hulled barley, high-fat diet (Diet 3) had slightly improved feed efficiency (P<0.05) relative to pigs fed the corn, hull-less barley or hulled barley, low-fat diets. Only minor differences in digestibility of DM, energy, and protein were observed among the corn, hull-less barley, hulled barley, high-fat, and wheat diets. The digestibility of these components in the hulled barley, low-fat diet (Diet 4) was 3.9 to 6.9 percentage units less (P<0.05) than in the other diets. These results demonstrate that good quality hulled and hull-less barley adapted for the mid-Atlantic region of the U.S. can be used at a relatively high inclusion rate in pelleted grower pig diets and produce growth performance comparable with similar diets based mainly on corn or wheat.