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Supplementation of Wheat with Amino Acids in the Diet of the Chick¹

Poultry Nutrition Laboratory, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada

Different samples of wheat have been used as the sole source of protein in chick rations. The effects of supplementation of the all-wheat diets with lysine, methionine, tryptophan, and fish meal have been studied with regard to growth rate and feed utilization. It was found that:

1. The addition of lysine to an all-wheat ration increased the growth rate of chicks and improved the efficiency of feed utilization.

2. Lysine in excess of the optimum level for the particular amino acid composition of the ration decreased both the growth rate and the efficiency of feed utilization.

3. The addition of methionine or tryptophan to an all-wheat ration depressed the efficiency of feed utilization.

4. Although the efficiency of nitrogen utilization was markedly decreased by the presence of excesses of amino acids in the diet, nevertheless the ratio of fecal to dietary nitrogen did not change at the amino acid levels present in the experimental rations.

5. When wheat samples of different protein content were fed in rations containing no additional protein concentrates, growth rate and feed efficiency were slightly better with wheat of high protein content. High protein wheat (16.5%), however, gave slower growth and lower feed efficiency than wheat of average protein content (11 to 13%) when supplemented with fish meal to yield rations containing 17 to 21% of total protein.

Manuscript received 3 July 1950.