Amino acid oxidation by young pigs receiving diets with varying levels of sulphur amino acids

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Abstract
1. Piglets were weaned at 3 d of age and were introduced to liquid diets in which 400 g/kg protein was supplied as skim-milk powder and the balance as a mixture of free amino acids. The skim milk contributed 2·3 g methionine and 1·4 g cystine/kg diet; the experimental diets were made by supplementing these levels with free amino acids.2. The adequacy of the test level of the amino acid in the diet was assessed by measuring the oxidation of [1−14]phenylalanine as an indicator of the partition of the essential amino acids between incorporation into protein and degradation. Radioactivity recovered as carbon dioxide was used as a measure of catabolism.3. Addition of 0·2, 0·4, 0·7, 1·2 and 1·7 g L-methione/kg to a diet containing 5 g cystine and 3 g choline chloride/kg showed that phenylalanine catabolism was minimal for the diet with 2·7 g methionine/kg indicating that this is the dietary requirement for methionine to serve as a source of methionine residues for protein synthesis.4. Addition of D-methionine to produce a series of diets with graded levels of methionine showed that the D-isomer was less effective than the L-isomer in reducing phenylalanine catabolism: the addition of 0·8 g D-methionine/kg diet was needed to produce the same effect as 0·4 g L-methionine/kg diet showing that the replacement value of D-methionine for L-methionine was 50% in the young pig.5. To investigate the influence of cystine on methionine requirement, diets with varying levels of methionine and cystine were prepared. Oxidation of [U-14C]methionine was used as an indication of an excess of methionine, and the results showed that increasing the dietary methionine level above 3·0 g/kg in diets containing 1·4 g cystine/kg provided an excess of methionine for oxidation. This indicated a sulphur amino acid requirement of 4·4 g/kg, one-third of this being supplied as cystine.