An investigation into the variability of extract viscosity of wheat-relationship with the content of non-starch-polysaccharide fractions and metabolisable energy for broiler chickens.

The in vitro extract-viscosity and the content of non-starch-polysaccharides were investigated in 34 defined wheat varieties grown at 5 locations each. Both, wheat genotype as well as growing location clearly influenced the viscosity of soluble extract from wheat. Furthermore, the content of non-starch-polysaccharides (soluble/total) and pentosans (soluble/total) were determined in 13 wheat varieties each grown at two locations. Soluble pentosan contents were highly positively correlated with extract viscosity of wheat at the locations Hayn (r = 0.86) and Biendorf (r = 0.90). The classical apparent metabolisable energy of 5 wheat samples having different extract viscosities was assessed. The AMEN values ranged from 14.0 to 14.6 MJ/kg DM and were significant negatively correlated to content of soluble arabinoxylans (r = 0.67) and to the extract viscosity (r = 0.83). Furthermore, the viscosity of jejunal (4.0 to 22.8 mPas) and ileal (13.1 to 78.0 mPas) digesta exhibited a clear relationship with soluble pentosan contents and extract viscosity. Under the conditions applied in this study the technique of extract viscosity measurement can predict the AME.