Influence of storage and temperature treatment on the nutritional value of wheat for poultry (PhD)

SUMMARY

In 2007, 787 million tonnes of wheat were produced in the world (IGC 2008). Due to its importance in the world commodity market, there has been much research into the potential problems of weather damage to wheat, particularly with reference to bread making. High moisture content wheat at harvest is dried very carefully in order to maintain quality as far as possible; similar care is taken with such wheat if it is for seed. However, the drying conditions for feed wheats tend to be more severe, although there is little work on actual quality associated with these conditions. The current project aimed to address three major research areas:

1. The effects of heat treatment in relation to the nutritional value of weather damaged wheat.

2. Rapid Visco Analyser (RVA) may be able to quantify amylase activity and predict nutritional value of wheat samples.

3. The nutritional value of wheat after storage at ambient conditions for up to four months