Digestible methionine requirement for performance and carcass yield of broiler finisher

Abstract

The objectives of the studies were to establish accurate estimates of digestible methionine requirements for broiler chickens given sorghum based diets during the 3-6 week finisher phase. This experiment used 175 male broiler chickens which were fed experimental diets from 3 to 6 weeks of age. Each diet was fed in mash form to 5 pens of broilers (7 birds/pen). Dietary treatments included the following levels of digestible methionine: 2.0 3.5, 5.0, 6.5 and 8.0 g/kg. In conclusion, digestible methionine level of 5.80-5.92 g/kg diet appeared to be adequate to support good growth in broilers from 21 to 42 days of age. The dietary level of methionine needed to optimize breast meat yield appears to be higher than that needed for optimal live performance traits.