EFFECTS OF DIETARY LEVELS OF METHIONINE AND LYSINE ON PERFORMANCE OF GROWING JAPANESE QUAIL

Abstract

The experimental work was designed to study the effects ofsupplemental methionine (Met) and lysine (Lys) on performance ofgrowing japanese quail. Two hundred and seventy, 1day - oldunsexed birds were allotted to 5 treatments and were fed theexperimental diets. The composition of the experimental diets were asfollows:1. D1, corn-soybean meal diet with an animal protein sourcecontaining methionine and lysine levels as recommended byNRC, 1994.2. D2, corn-soybean meal diet without any source of animal proteinor supplemental methionine and lysine. The diet has a deficiencyof methionine and lysine and considered as the negative control.3. D3 is the same composition of D2 and supplemented withmethionine and lysine as recommended by NRC, and consideredas the control.4. D4 is the same composition of D3 with supplemental methionineand lysine to the level of 120% of NRC, recommendations.5. D5 is the same composition of D3 with supplemental methionineand lysine to the level of 140% of NRC, recommendations.The results obtained indicated that there were insignificanteffects of increasing dietary Met and Lys levels on Japanese quailgrowth performance. The diet containing no more than 1.12% Lysand 0.42% Met (D2) was enough for satisfactory live body weight(LBW), growth rate (GR), performance index (PI) and feed intake(FI). With respect of the whole period, there were insignificant effectsof increasing dietary Met and Lys levels on Japanese quail feedconversion (FC), crude protein conversion (CPC), and caloricconversion ratio (CCR), also the dietary 1.12% Lys and 0.42% Metlevels were sufficient to obtain the optimum values of FC, CPC andCER for Japanese quail. From the economical point of view, it can berecommended that the diet containing no more than 1.12% Lys and0.42% Met levels were the best diet for feeding the growing Japanesequail.