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Amino Acid Requirement of the Growing Rabbit: An Estimate of Quantitative Needs^{1 ,2}

Department of Nutrition, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey 08903

The quantitative essential amino acid requirement of the growing female New Zealand rabbit has been estimated, using weight gain as the response criterion. The diet used was chemically defined, and the amino acid component was patterned after methionine-supplemented isolated soy protein. Each essential amino acid was fed at graded levels and glutamic acid was varied to provide isonitrogenous diets. The best estimate of the quantitative requirement, as a percentage of the diet, was found to be: arginine, 1.0; histidine, 0.45; leucine, 0.90; isoleucine, 0.70; lysine, 0.70; methionine + cystine, 0.60; phenylalanine + tyrosine, 0.60; threonine, 0.50; tryptophan, 0.15 and valine, 0.70. Glycine was required for rapid growth. In comparison with other young, growing mammals, the rabbit has an unusually high arginine requirement that resembles that of the young chick.

KEY WORDS: • amino acid requirement • rabbit nutrition

¹ Paper of the Journal Series, New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station; supported in part by Biomedical Science Support Grant PHS RR 7058.

² Taken, in part, from a thesis presented by the senior author to the Graduate School of Rutgers University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the M.S. degree.

Manuscript received 20 February 1973.