Barley protein intake

Cereal grains, such as maize, barley, wheat and sorghum, are the main ingredients of poultry diets and usually provide 30-60% of the total AA requirements. Other sources of protein such as soybean meal and canola meal must be provided to ensure adequate amounts and a proper balance of essential AAs. The protein levels necessary to provide adequate intakes of essential AAs will depend on the feedstuffs used. Feedstuffs that contain high-quality proteins (i.e. with an AA pattern similar to the bird s needs) or mixtures of feedstuffs in which the AA pattern of one complements the pattern in another will meet the essential AA requirements at lower dietary protein levels than feedstuffs with a less desirable AA pattern. This is important if one of the goals is to minimize N excretion. 

There is also some research on the influence of dietary factors on autoimmune diseases. This is a broad area that includes caloric intake, specific nutrients and foods, and dietary supplements. Coeliac disease is an example of an autoimmune disease with a clear dietary link in which an immunological response to specific proteins in wheat, barley, and rye produces autoantibodies directed against tissue transglutaminase, causing mucosal damage in the small intestine. 

Lawes and Gilbert, in 1852, who found that pigs fed exclusively on barley acquired more body fat than could possibly have come from the fat or protein in the barley. A similar transformation is demonstrated, often unintentionally, by the human subject, and a restriction in the carbohydrate intake is a routine procedure in the treatment of obesity and over-weight conditions. Fat can also arise from protein, as shown by the work of Lusk and his colleagues on the effect of feeding excess of lean meat to dogs whose glycogen and lipide stores had been depleted by previous starvation. 

---