Use in Dairy Cattle:

It is stated by many researchers that the main use of barley pulp is the feeding of dairy cattle. Morrison states that 10-15 kg of fresh barley pulp can be given to dairy cattle per day to replace the same weight of silage, and that 1 kg of concentrate feed can be replaced by 4 kg of fresh barley pulp.

Johnson et al. report that 20% of the ration dry matter can be met with fresh barley pulp in dairy cattle, and that when this rate is exceeded, there is a decrease in feed consumption but no decrease in milk yield.

Use in Beef Cattle:

Preston et al. They compared a ration consisting of commercial pellet feed in fattening cattle with a ration in which 30% of the dry matter was provided by fresh barley pulp and observed that live weight gain and feed utilization were higher in the ration containing barley pulp. The researchers show that the reason for this is the elimination of liver abscesses in the ration in which barley pulp is given.

They state that 6-8 kg of barley pulp can be given to fattening cattle per day for 100 kg of live weight.

Use in Fattening Lambs:

Adu, based on his observations in a study on how much of corn can be replaced with barley pulp in fattening lambs, suggests that it is positive for fattening performance and that 60-65% of corn can be replaced with barley pulp.

McCarthy et al. Based on the results of a trial comparing barley pulp with commercial pellet feed, they reported that barley pulp with corn additive can be used as the sole feed for fattening lambs.

It is known that high amounts of concentrated feed are used in beef cattle rations. It is known that when the roughage rate in the ration falls below 30%, an increase in rumenitis-related liver abscesses occurs and a decrease in live weight gain and feed utilization occurs, and it is known that meeting at least 15% of the ration dry matter with barley pulp prevents liver abscesses due to the high content of high-quality crude cellulose in barley pulp and the antiseptic properties of the hops it contains.

Segerson and Ganaphaty suggest that barley pulp positively affects fertilization in beef cattle and sheep when fed with vitamin E supplements due to its high selenium content.

As is known, the digestibility of feedstuffs is affected by many factors. Llano states that the ratio of roughage and concentrate in the ration, the physical form and quality of the feeds are the most important of these factors, and suggests that when given on the maintenance allowance, the digestibility of poor quality feeds decreases more than that of good quality ones, and that as the ratio of concentrated feed in the ration increases, the digestibility of roughage decreases. Thomas states that barley pulp and water reduce digestibility and feed consumption due to some substances they contain.

Protein Digestibility:

Recent studies on barley pulp focus on the protein digestibility of barley pulp, and the effects of the digestibility rate in the rumen on productivity in ruminants are investigated.

Armentano et al. , indicates that when dairy cattle rations are supplemented with easily degradable protein sources, the rate of protein breakdown in the rumen exceeds the rate of protein synthesis, which causes inadequate use of feed nitrogen and absorption in the form of ammonia, and suggests that protein sources resistant to breakdown in the rumen positively affect milk yield by increasing the amount of protein passing to the duodenum. In a study conducted with dairy cattle, Seymour and Polan supplemented the protein deficiency of low and high energy rations with soybean meal or barley pulp. The results of the study show that although no difference was seen in the high energy ration, milk yield was higher in the group given barley pulp in the low energy ration. The researcher attributes this to the fact that barley pulp contains more protein resistant to breakdown in the rumen and passing to the duodenum, which increases tissue mobilization.

It is stated that using barley pulp instead of soybean meal in fattening cattle increases live weight gain and feed utilization, and the reason for this is shown to be the low protein digestibility in the rumen of barley pulp.

Many researchers agree that the low protein digestibility of barley pulp in the rumen has a positive effect on productivity and feed utilization.

It is known that protein digestibility in sheep is much higher than that of meadow grass.