BROILER CARCASS COMPOSITION AS AFFECTED BY AMINO ACID SUPPLEMENTATION

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Abstract
A corn-soybean diet containing 20% protein and a similar diet with glycine supplementation, to give a diet with a 24% protein equivalent, were supplemented with lysine and methionine. Weight gain, feed intake and carcass composition of male broilers were compared to those of similar birds fed a 24% protein corn-soybean diet. Weight gain and feed:gain ratio for the amino-acid-supplemented 20% protein diet were not significantly different from the 24% protein diet. The addition of glycine, while having little effect on performance, resulted in a reduction (P < 0.05) in carcass fat. In a second experiment, increasing the level of dietary protein to 22% from 16% or supplementing the 16% diet with additional lysine and methionine failed to alter weight gain or feed:gain ratio during the 4- to 7-wk finishing period. However, total carcass protein was increased and total carcass fat was reduced with the higher protein diet. Although the amount of total edible meat was similar for all diets, the 22% protein diet resulted in meat containing a greater percentage of protein than the other dietary treatments. An interesting observation was the decrease in protein and increase in fat contents of breast meat when additional methionine was added to a 16% protein diet. Key words: Amino acid supplementation, broiler carcass composition, meat yields