Wheat

Wheat

Wheat is higher in protein than other common feed grains such as corn, barley or oats. Within wheat classes, HRSW has the highest protein content, with hard red winter wheat and durum being slightly lower. All cereal grains generally are low in calcium and adequate in phosphorus for all classes of beef cattle.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau Trade Data – BICO HS-10

Table 1. World Wheat Production

    

Wheat is one of the most widely used raw materials worldwide. This product is used both for human food (wheat flour) and animal feed (wheat bran). It is one of the three most-produced kinds of cereal in the world, together with corn and rice. Wheat belongs to the genus Triticum spp. of the Poaceae family or also called Gramineae, which constitute the most important group in feeding sector.

Wheat production in the world

Among the largest countries producers of wheat in the world, in the Top 5 per metric ton are located: European Union (135,800,000), China (134,250,000), India (107,592,000), Russia (85,300,000), United States (49,691,000) and Canada (35,183,000). It is estimated that for the 2020/2021 period, world wheat production would be around 763.9 million tons.

As for Latin America, in the TOP 5 largest wheat producers, the following countries are located by metric tons: Argentina (17,500,000), Brazil (6,300,000), Chile (1,365,000), Uruguay (745,000), Bolivia (310,000) and Colombia (5,000).

Cereals are one of the main sources of energy and nutrients for animal and human food and have been used historically for centuries. Among the cereals, wheat is one of the most important worldwide, from which the main product called flour and by-products called bran and germ are obtained. Wheat flour is mainly used in human food in bakery processes. On the other hand, wheat bran is a product intended for animal feed due to its high content of amino acids and a high percentage of protein superior to other existing cereals. This wheat bran (technically called pericarp) consists mainly of the external parts of the wheat grain after processing.

World Wheat  – Production vs Usage

Table 2. world wheat production 

Nutritional values of wheat in animal feed

Wheat is one of the cereals with the highest protein content available for animal feed, being higher than corn. In addition, it has a high energy value with 3.0 to 3.5 Mcal ME (Megacalories of Metabolizable Energy), which constitutes an important energy source in animal feed.  Starch, which is a digestible polysaccharide, is the most abundant carbohydrate in wheat.

On the other hand, it is recommended that wheat have moisture values below 14% to avoid problems related to digestibility and contamination by mycotoxin-producing fungi. The amount of lipids in wheat is characterized by a low value compared to corn, which is reported as an advantage since it reduces rancidity. In addition, wheat bran is characterized by increasing the palatability of the feed in which is added as a raw material.

Finally, wheat presents high fiber values with 11%, higher compared to corn. This portion of fiber contains between 4-5% of pentosans and 0.5-1% of ß-glucans, which can have benefits if the diet is supplemented with multienzymatic products such as Alquerzim.

Wheat bran is considered an important source of minerals such as zinc, selenium, iodine, potassium  which are important elements in the diet as they participate in multiple physiological functions such as the immune system. On the other hand, wheat bran provides vitamins such as thiamine, B6, folate, vitamin E, and carotenoids (pigments).

Use of wheat in ruminant animal production

Wheat is an excellent feed source for polygastric animals such as ruminants. On the one hand, it has high protein values if the cultivation and growth conditions were adequate, reaching up to 18%. This high amount of protein together with a high energy value makes wheat a good alternative for feeding ruminants.

On the other hand, wheat has a large amount of fiber, which facilitates the digestive processes in ruminants. However, it is recognized that the wheat supplied is low in lignin and high in sugars, so its table consumption should be limited. The maximum consumption of wheat for ruminants is 4 kg/day distributed in several rations to prevent ruminal acidosis. Due to its carbohydrate composition, where starch is the most important, wheat has a high fermentation in ruminants, even higher than that of corn. In addition, it is recommended to administer the wheat dry in the ration and well shredded to improve nutrient absorption in ruminants.

Use of wheat in swine production

In swine, wheat bran has been used for its nutritional properties and on pig digestion. Wheat bran is added to the diet of pigs for its contribution to intestinal health and for enhancing the intestinal microbiota. In addition, the bacteria present in the large intestine of pigs can ferment the fiber present in wheat bran to produce volatile fatty acids that the animals can use as a source of energy.

However, it is recommended to supplement the wheat bran with enzymatic products that improve the digestibility of this raw material such as Alquerzim. For example, enzymes called xylanases increase available energy, protein, and dry matter digestibility, thus increasing yield.

Pigs do not produce sufficient enzymes to break down non-starch polysaccharide (NSP) chains. Therefore, these xylanases allow processing these compounds, which increases the production of volatile fatty acids and improves the availability of mono- and polysaccharides in the intestine (Martinez-Aispuro, 2017).

Wheat use in poultry farming

In poultry farming, the use of wheat is common in Europe, Canada, and Australia due to the shortage of corn during some seasons. It should be considered that wheat has more crude protein and amino acids such as lysine and tryptophan, but less energy compared to corn. In addition, wheat contains less Vitamin A and biotin compared to corn. For these reasons, it is not recommended to include a huge amount or for prolonged periods. In such a case, it is recommended to supplement the diet to avoid nutritional deficiencies in the poultry.

However, wheat is an excellent alternative for poultry feed because it facilitates the formation of pellets since it contains gluten, so binders are not needed. Likewise, trials have been carried out in broilers fed with whole wheat (Plavnik, 2002) where a better efficiency of the feed supplied was observed thanks to the utilization of nutrients of commercial feeds.