BARLEY as one of the main cereal crops is important for livestock feeding. Barley grain production is ranked fourth behind corn, rice and wheat. One type of cultivated Barley - six row barleys has higher protein content which is a valuable feed ingredient and has led to its wide cultivation in more than 100 countries.

Barley importers include countries that use it mainly for animal feed as Iran.

Barley as a member of the grass family is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climate and also is one of the very first cultivated grains. It has been used as a fermentable material for some distilled beverages and is a component of many health foods.

It is one of the most adaptable grains in the world and its worldwide dispersion maybe be due of this. It is grown as a summer crop in temperate and tropical areas. Barley is really tolerant against soil salinity even more than wheat and it can be the reason of its expensive cultivation in the world.

It is estimated that half of the barley production is used as livestock feed for different animals.

Barley is an important feed grain especially in northern areas. Interestingly an enzymatic process can be used to make a high-protein fish feed from barley which is suitable for different types of fishes.

Barley is considered as an energy resource and it has more protein than other cereals commonly used in ruminant diets. The nutritional composition of barley can be affected by geographic location and also climate condition in the area.