Various Physico-chemical Properties of Dietary Fiber Sources of Poultry Diets

This study was carry out to investigated the proximate composition together with some water and oil functional characteristics of wheat bran (WB), barley bran (BB), and soybean hulls (SH) as poultry dietary fiber (DF) sources. The results showed that moisture contents (range 6.04 to 7.71%) were similar between tested DF sources. The SH had notably higher crude protein content rather that of WB and BB (P<0.05). The ash content of SH and BB did not significantly differ but were higher than that of WB (P<0.05). The order of DF ether extract was SH> BB > WW (P<0.05). The highest and lowest amounts of crude fiber, and acid detergent fiber were related to BB and WB, respectively (P<0.05). Moreover, BB was dedicated the highest level of neutral detergent fiber, acid detergent lignin, bulk density, cation-exchange capacity, and water holding capacity rather other DF sources. The pH of all three DF was slightly acidic (range from 5.25 to 6.00), although their pH did not significantly differ. The BB and SH viscosity were statically similar but both were higher than WB viscosity (P<0.05). The order of water insoluble solids of DF sources was as following BB>WB>SH (P<0.05). No significantly differences were found between the swelling capacity of BB and SH but both were higher than that of WB (P<0.05). The oil holding capacity of DF sources for the tested oils (corn, olive oil and melted tallow) was in order SH>BB>WB, respectively (P<0.05). The emulsifying activity of the tested DF sources for corn and olive oils was similar. The measured emulsion stability for corn oil was similar between SH and BB but both were higher than ES of WB. The results of current study indicated that the physico-chemical properties of various tested DF sources are dependent on their composition, especially fiber content. These data provide a clear insight into how fiber fraction of poultry diets interacts with water and oil and how the potential nutritional consequences were determined in terms of physico-chemical properties.