Arginine Deficiency in Two Strains of Chickens Selected for Differences in Dietary Requirements of Arginine

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The factors affecting the response to an arginine deficiency in 2 strains of chicks selected for high (HA) or low (LA) requirement of arginine were investigated in several experiments. For maximal growth chicks from the HA strain required more than 0.6% arginine added to a basal diet containing casein, whereas only 0.3% appeared to be needed by chicks of the LA strain. The 2 strains differed considerably more in response to an arginine deficiency when a diet containing casein was fed than when an arginine deficiency was produced with a diet containing crystal-line amino acids. Force-feeding an arginine-deficient casein diet to chicks of the HA strain in an amount consumed ad libitum by chicks of the LA strain produced enlarged and fatty livers, whereas force-feeding a similar quantity to chicks of the LA strain produced no detrimental effects. The arginine content of plasma and protein-free extracts of liver and muscle was not appreciably different when the 2 strains were fed diets deficient or adequate in arginine. Lysine levels in these tissues were consistently higher in chicks of the HA strain compared with the LA strain, at all levels of arginine fed. The data suggest that the inability to metabolize high levels of dietary lysine by chicks of the HA strain may increase their arginine requirement.