Efficacy of the FAO Amino Acid Reference Standard for Growth of the Weanling Rat

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
In rat growth experiments, the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) amino acid reference pattern was found to possess a somewhat greater efficiency than an amino acid mixture patterned after casein at a high essential amino acid content. At a lower essential amino acid content the protein efficiencies were equal but the FAO pattern supported much more rapid growth when the diets were fed ad libitum. Decreasing the tryptophan content of the FAO pattern by 33 to 50% or increasing the lysine content by 22% did not alter the nutritive value of the mixture. A mixture containing casein supplemented to the FAO reference pattern with essential amino acids was found to be nutritionally equivalent to the FAO reference amino acid mixture itself. Cottonseed meal so supplemented proved to be inferior to both.