CHOICE FEEDING AND AMINO ACID REQUIREMENTS FOR BROILERS

The study was conducted as a completely randomized design, with a factorial arrangement to determine the response of commercial broilers to choice feeding and limiting amino acids on growth and carcass performance. A total of 432 male birds were weighed at one-d-old and randomly distributed to 48 wire-floored brooder cage each 1.0 m2. There were 2 sexes and 4 dietary treatments with 6 replicates each of 9 birds. Birds were given one of three dietary regimens with dietary change every 7 days. All groups were fed free choice of summit and dilution diets. The estimated dietary level of crude protein at day-old was 240 g/kg and the level at 42 d was either 120, 150 or 180 g/kg for females or 130, 160 and 190 g/kg for males. At 43 d of age, all birds from each dietary treatment were slaughtered for measurement of body composition. Results reveal that lysine requirement for maximum gain in this study was higher than NRC recommendation. The free choice-fed bird was significantly higher, in terms of growth and body composition than that obtained on the low dietary protein regimen.Keyword