THE EFFECT OF FIBRES IN FEEDSTUFFS ON NUTRITIONAL VALUE AND HOW TO DETERMINE IT

Knud Erik Bach Knudsen, Tofuko Awori Woyengo and Sanna Steenfeldt
Department of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, Aarhus University, Denmark
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INTRODUCTION
The nutritional value of a feed refers to “the amount of nutrients contained in a feed that can be utilized by the animal” and its estimation consequently involve how well the nutrients are digested and utilized by the animals.

In poultry nutrition, it is well known that content and composition of fibre (non-starch polysaccharides (NSP) and lignin) have a profound influence on nutrient digestibility and utilisation as it represents the largest part of the feed that cannot be digested by endogenous enzymes. Fibre can also influence nutrient digestibility due to its viscosity associated with soluble NSP and the encapsulation of important nutrients in cell walls (CW) rich in insoluble NSP. However, insoluble NSP may help develop the gizzard and other parts of the gastrointestinal tract and thereby improve the digestibility of nutrients. The main purpose of the present paper is to review the interplay between NSP and fibre and the digestion processes. Since cereal grains constitute the largest part of the NSP present in the diets for broilers most emphasis will be devoted on cereal NSP.

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