Malt culms, also called malt sprouts, are the dried shoots and rootlets of sprouted grain in the brewing process. In the production of malted grains the culms refer to the rootlets of the germinated grains. The culms are normally removed in a process known as «deculming» when producing barley malt, but form an important part of the product when making sorghum or millet malt. After kilning malt is weighed and malt culms are removed on a germ separator. The germ separator has the capacity of 1000 kg per 1 hour.
Malt culms are very nutritious and are used as a feeding stuff for livestock.
Malt culms comprise the dried rootlets and sprouts of the germinated barley grains and generally represent approximately 4% of the weight of malted barley. They are a good source of protein (290 +- 56.9 g/kg-1 dry matter), with a high fiber (556 +- 50.7 g neutral-detergent fiber kg-1 dry matter) content and an estimated energy value of 11.1 +- 0.95 MJ kg-1 dry matter. Due to their high fiber content, malt calms are generally fed only to ruminants and only in small amounts (because of their bitter taste).
Malt culms should be supplemented by another cereal grains (like straw) because of the bitter taste provided by the alkaloid Hordenine (contents up tp 0.5% dry matter) and a high content of Asparagine and ash.
Carbohydrate composition of germs comprises cellulose, pentosans, glucose, fructose, sucrose, xylose.
Vitamin content ofmalt calms
|
B1 (thiamine) |
0.67 mg % dry matter |
|
B |
0.66 mg |
|
B2 (riboflavin) |
0.512 mg |
|
B3 (niacin) |
1.88 mg |
|
B6 (pyridoxine) |
0.562 mg |
|
Vitamin PP |
0.3 mg |
|
Vitamin E |
1.34 mg |
|
Vitamin C |
6.24 mg |
Suited to ruminants with a protein requirement — i.e. at peak lactation or when pasture availability is restricted-mature cattle can consume up to 6kgs of Malt Culms per day. High protein in Malt Culms drives production, while their semi-fibrous nature tends to result in increased milk solids and assist with the utilization of other feeds such as lush pasture.