Defining feed wheat quality for broilers

1 SUMMARY 2 INTRODUCTION 6 MATERIALS AND METHODS 8 Sample collection 8 Diets 9 Experimental design 9 Birds and management 9 Analysis of wheat samples, diets, excreta and ileal digesta 10 Statistical analysis 11 Near Infrared Reflectance Spectroscopy (NIRS) 12 RESULTS 13 Chemical and physical analysis of wheat samples 13 Chemical analysis of diets 16 Animal trials 17 First animal trial 17 Second animal trial 17 Third animal trial 18 All trials combined 18 Regression analysis 19 Near Infrared Reflectance Spectroscopy (NIRS) 20 Full calibrations based on all wheats (excluding Canadian wheats) 20 Independent validation using a NIRS sub-calibration (excluding Canadian wheats) 21 Full calibrations based on all wheats (including Canadian wheats) 22 Independent validation using a NIRS sub-calibration (including Canadian wheats) 22 DISCUSSION 22 Characteristics of wheat samples 22 Bird responses 23 Correlations 24 NIRS 25 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 28 REFERENCES 28 APPENDIX A -TABLES 33 APPENDIX B FIGURES 106