A diet based solely on maize contains very few anti-nutritional factors, as maize contains only 2.5% cellulose and 5% arabinoxylan. That is why we rarely, if ever, use any NSP enzymes in an all-maize diet. In contrast, a diet based entirely or heavily in barley would be extremely rich in NSP as this ingredient contains 5% cellulose, 7% arabinoxylan, and 5% beta-glucans. Wheat, is somewhere in between, with 2.5% cellulose, 6% arabinoxylan, and only 1% beta-glucans.
I admit it; the above paragraph is rather dry to read, but a careful look at these boring numbers can reveal three very important facts:
1. On average, wheat is not much different than maize, with only 2% more NSP! This could easily explain why enzyme supplementation in all-wheat diets sometimes fails to elicit a positive result.
2. Barley benefits the most from enzyme supplementation as it contains the most NSP among common cereals.
3. A diet based entirely or heavily on barley would require an enzyme product that is pure or mostly composed of beta-glucanase. Having a xylanse would also be (marginally) beneficial, but in an all-wheat diet, a pure beta-glucanse enzyme product would be almost without any benefit.
Thus, knowing the level of use for each cereal, one can select the ‘right’ enzyme. Now, of course, not all beta-glucanases or xylanases are the same, but that is another story!
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