Two experiments were conducted to determine digestible lysine requirements of female Ross × Ross 708 and Hubbard × Cobb 500 broilers from days 1 to 15 and reported by W.A. Dozier of Auburn University and R.L. Payne of Evonik-Degussa Corp. in the Journal of Applied Poultry Research.

In each experiment, 1,600 female broilers were randomly distributed into 64 floor pens and fed eight experimental diets consisting of seven concentrations of digestible lysine ranging from 0.95 to 1.43 per cent in increments of 0.08 per cent and a positive control diet containing 1.27 per cent digestible lysine.

A true lysine digestibility assay was conducted with caecectomised roosters to determine lysine digestibility of the negative control diets.

True digestible lysine of the negative control diets was determined to be 0.92 and 0.91 per cent in experiments 1 and 2, respectively.

In experiment 1, the digestible lysine requirement for female Ross × Ross 708 broilers was determined to be 1.35 and 1.27 per cent, for bodyweight gain from 1 to 7 days and 1 to 14 days of age, respectively. The digestible lysine requirement was 1.38 per cent for 1- to 7-day feed conversion.

In experiment 2, digestible lysine requirements for female Hubbard × Cobb 500 broilers were estimated to be 1.26 and 1.18 per cent for bodyweight gain from 1 to 7 days and 1 to 14 days of age, respectively. The digestible lysine requirement was 1.26 per cent for 1- to 14-day feed conversion but a requirement could not be estimated for feed conversion from 1 to 7 days of age.

Dozier and Payne concluded that digestible lysine requirements for modern broilers are higher than previously reported based on growth performance.

Reference

Dozier W.A. III and R.L. Payne. 2012. Digestible lysine requirements of female broilers from 1 to 15 days of age. J. Appl. Poult. Res. 21(2):348-357. doi: 10.3382/japr.2011-00418

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June 2012