Starter Period Digestible Valine Requirement of Female Nicholas Poults

Abstract

Two experiments were conducted to determine the digestible Valine requirement in female Nicholas poults. A low-protein corn-soybean meal diet with added amino acids was used for the valine titration. Body weight gain and feed conversion responses to increasing dietary valine were measured. In Experiment 1, a wide range of valine levels were fed, with poults that received 0.79% or more digestible valine achieving maximal growth rate and feed efficiency. A narrower titration was used in Experiment 2, in which poults receiving 0.82% digestible valine were significantly heavier than those fed 0.75% or lower levels. The average growth data subjected to broken-line analysis indicated that the digestible valine requirement for maximum body weight gain was 0.82%. These studies indicate that in a corn-soybean meal diet containing 3218 kcal ME/kg, the dietary valine requirement of starting female Nicholas poults, expressed on a digestible basis, is 0.82%.