Wheat is one of the most used raw materials worldwide. The word “trigo” comes from the Latin word triticum, which means “broken”, “crushed” or “threshed”, referring to the activity that must be carried out to separate the grain of wheat from the husk that covers it.

Wheat is one of the main sources of energy in poultry feed in some areas (e.g. Europe and Australia) where corn is not always immediately available, or is very expensive for farmers to use. Wheat has a higher level of crude protein, but has less energy than corn.

Wheat flour is used for human food in bakery and pastry processes. Wheat bran is the product that is destined for animal feed, thanks to its high content of amino acids and a high percentage of protein, superior to other existing cereals.

Protein source in poultry feed

Wheat bran is the outer layer of the wheat kernel, the husk that remains after milling. It is relatively high in protein (15-17%), phosphorus, and magnesium, but low in calcium, energy, and starch. Wheat bran has few antinutritional properties and for this reason it is a good ingredient for animal nutrition.

It is the grain most desired by birds and adapts very well to their diet.

Its composition is similar to that of corn, but it contains a little more protein and has a little more fiber.

But wheat may contain antinutritional factors (ANFs), which affect bird nutrition. Antinutritional factors are natural substances that inhibit the digestive or metabolic use of nutrients, and others that have the property of degrading or destroying nutrients chemically or enzymatically.

ANFs hinder or inhibit the assimilation of nutrients, thus affecting the nutritional value of feed. For this reason, when wheat is used for avian nutrition, it is advisable to add products based on enzyme combinations to the diet that facilitate digestion.

World wheat production 2021/2022

According to the latest reports from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), world wheat production has increased slightly and is currently at 776 million tons for 2021, after an upward adjustment of the estimate for Australia.

The 3^rd main producers of wheat worldwide are, for the last year, the European Union, with 138 million metric tons, followed by China, with a production of 136 million tons per year and then India with 109 million tons.

2022 Crop Production Forecast

Although the forecast for world wheat production in 2022 has been moderately lowered to 782 million tons, it remains the forecast that world wheat production will expect growth this year. The month-on-month reduction comes mainly from the United States, where persistent dry conditions have deteriorated yield prospects for winter wheat crops and limited overall production expectations. However, thanks to a price-driven expansion in sown area, the forecast continues to indicate that the country’s total wheat production will increase to 50 million tons in 2022, which is about 5 million tons (a 11%) more than the production of the previous year.

International wheat prices continue to rise, with a small increase in April, only 0.2%. Although the remaining port blockade and concerns about the status of the 2022 crop in the United States of America have kept prices high, the rise was tempered by higher shipments from India, some larger-than-expected exports from the Russian Federation and a slight decline in global demand as a result of high prices.