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Value of Methionine Supplementation of Chick and Poult Diets Containing a High Percentage of Wheat
Value of Methionine Supplementation of Chick and Poult Diets Containing a High Tercentage of Wheat S. J. SLINGER, W. F. PEPPER AND D. C. HILL Departments of Poultry Husbandry and Nutrition, Ontario Agricultural College, Guelph, Ontario, Canada (Received for publication November 1, 1952)
HERE is considerable evidence that chick diets containing soybean oil meal as the only protein supplement are improved by the addition of methionine (Hayward and Hafner, 1941; Bird and Mattingly, 1945; Clandinin et al., 1946; Mishler et al., 1948; Machlin et al, 1952; Slinger et al., 1952). Similar observations have been made with poults (Bird et al., 1948; Slinger et al., 1949; Saxena and McGinnis, 1952). Basal diets used in the above mentioned studies were high in corn with a relatively small proportion of wheat or other grains. Such diets are not typical of Ontario where wheat, rather than corn, is usually the predominating cereal grain in the formula. Although many published analyses show that wheat and corn are similar in methionine content it was of interest to study the effect of methionine supplementation of diets containing relatively high levels of wheat and soybean oil meal. EXPERIMENTAL Chicks were sexed and weighed individually at day old. Each sex was divided into groups of chicks of similar weight and randomized into the various experimental lots from within each weight group. In experiment 1 the birds were housed in battery brooders and in experiment 2 on the floor with wood shavings as litter. Poults in experiment 3 were assigned to the experimental lots in a similar manner and were kept on the floor with wood shavings as litter. In experiment 1 each lot, at the start, 573
consisted of 20 day-old Columbian Rock chicks, in experiment 2, 100 day-old Columbian Rock chicks, and in experiment 3, 33 male or 37 female day-old BroadBreasted Bronze poults. Males and females were maintained separately in the three experiments. Composition of the basal diets is given in Table 1. The basal diets were analyzed for crude protein and methionine. Methionine was determined by the method of Stokes et al. (1945) with the modification that a total assay volume of 4 ml. per tube was used rather than 10 ml. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The weight and feed efficiency data are presented in Table 2. Average weights obtained for the various groups showed no consistent trend related to methionine supplementation. With one exception (experiment 3 males, 8 weeks, 0 and 0.5 lbs. per ton of added methionine) no statistically significant differences (P = 0.01) were found among the average weights of comparable groups receiving no supplemental methionine and receiving supplemental methionine. Nevertheless, in experiment 2, for which large numbers of chicks were used, the data suggest that an increase in the level of added methionine from 0.5 to 1.0 lbs. per ton resulted in somewhat smaller average weights. In each experiment feed: gain ratios showed a trend~to lower values when additional methionine was fed. The one exception fo this was the female birds in
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Florida International University on May 24, 2015
T
574
S. J. SLINGER, W. F. PEPPER AND D. C. HILL TABLE 1.—Composition of basal diets per 100 lbs.
Experiment N^. 1, chicks
Experiment No. 2, chicks
To 52 days
52-70 days
To 6 weeks
6-10 weeks
54.0 lbs. 25.0 lbs.
54.0 lbs. 10.0 lbs.
53.0 lbs. 25.0 lbs.
Ingredient
lbs. lbs. lbs. lbs. lbs. lbs. lbs. lbs. lbs. lbs. lbs. gms. gms. mgs.
—
1.0 2.0 1.0 1.5
—
12.0 1.5 1.5 0.25 0.25 34 7 ISO
1.0 2.5 2.0 2.0
lbs. lbs. lbs. lbs. lbs. gms. gms. mgs.
lbs. lbs. lbs. lbs.
—
25.0 lbs. 1.5 lbs. 1.5 lbs. 0.25 lbs. 0.25 lbs. 45.4 gms. 7 gms. ISO mgs.
— —
—
22.7 gms. 25.1 0.39
17.8 0.29
experiment 2. In this case the feed: gain ratio was essentially the same whether or not methionine was fed. However, it is reasonable to conclude that supplemental methionine was causing an improvement in feed efficiency. This conclusion is supported by similar results found with chicks in an earlier experiment by Slinger et al. (1952). The basal diets used by Slinger et al. (1952) contained over 50 percent yellow corn but like the diets used in TABLE 2.—Effect
—
lbs. lbs. lbs. lbs.
—
2.0 2.0 1.0 1.5
To 8 weeks 21.5 15.0 5.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 45.0
lbs. lbs. lbs. lbs.
—
12.0 lbs. 1.5 lbs. 1.5 lbs. 0.25 lbs. 0.25 lbs. 34 gms. 7 gms. 150 mgs. 0.5 gms. 22.7 gms. 18.8 0.30
•—
2.5 2.0 0.5 0.5 22.7 5.7 0.2 0.75
lbs. lbs. lbs. lbs. lbs. lbs. lbs. lbs. lbs. lbs. lbs. lbs. gms. gms. gms. gms.
—
28.8 0.41
the present experiment contained fish meal and dried buttermilk. Saxena and McGinnis (1952) reported that DL-methionine added to chick and poult diets did not improve growth but increased feed efficiency. Both chick and poult diets were high in corn. The former contained dried buttermilk both with and without fish meal and the latter 10 percent fish meal. The apparent lack of a positive growth
of supplementary methionine on the growth and feed efficiency of chicks and poults Average weight in grams2
Feed: gain ratio
DL-methionine1 added to basal (lbs. per ton)
&
9
U.A.3
9
U.A.3
o*
9
U.A.s
No. 1 chicks
0 0.5 0.75 1.0
1,024(19) 1,005(20) 1,015(20) 1,007(20)
848(20) 875(20) 876(19) 864(20)
936 940 946 936
1,541(19) 1,528(20) 1,564(19) 1,539(20)
1,248(20) 1,286(20) 1,320(19) 1,287(20)
1,395 1,407 1,442 1,413
2.47 2.43 2.48 2.34
2.76 2.64 2.76 2.64
2.62 2.54 2.62 2.49
No. 2 chicks
0 0.5 1.0
6 weeks 727 (95) 608 (98) 751(96) 614(99) 734 (95) 592 (96)
668 683 663
1,501(95) 1,510(95) 1,481(93)
10 weeks 1,186(97) 1,185(98) 1,171(96)
1,344 1,348 1,326
6 weeks 2.46 2.57 2.52 2.33 2.47 2.40 2.32 2.54 2.43
2.90 2.83 2.80
10 weeks 3.02 2.96 3.03 2.93 3.02 2.91
No. 3 poults
0 0.5 1.0
4 weeks 637 (33) 526 (36) 634 (27) 546 (37) 629 (31) 544 (37)
582 590 587
2,041(33) 2,167(27) 2,102(30)
8 weeks 1,679(35) 1,721(37) 1,677(35)
1,860 1,944 1,890
1.95 1.90 1.94
4 weeks 2.13 2.04 1.99 1.95 2.02 1.98
2.25 2.19 2.23
8 weeks 2.38 2.32 2.27 2.23 2.31 2.27
Experiment
52 days
10 weeks
52 days
10 weeks &
9
2.83 3.21 2.76 3.04 2.76 3.09 2.73 3.02
U.A." 3.02 2.90 2.93 2.88
1 The DL-methionine used in these experiments was supplied by Merck and Co. Ltd., Montreal, Que. and by Dow Chemical Co. of Canada Ltd., Sarnia, Ont. » Numbers of surviving birds are in parentheses. • U.A.—Unweighted Average.
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Florida International University on May 24, 2015
61.0 Ground wheat 5.0 Ground corn Ground oat groats — Cereal grass 1.0 Fish meal 2.5 Meat meal 2.0 Dried buttermilk 2.0 Soybean oil meal (44%) — Soybean oil meal (50%) 23.0 Ground limestone 1.5 Steamed bone meal 1.5 Iodized salt 0.25 Fortified fish oil (400D, 2,400A) 0.25 B 12 and penicillin supplement 34 Manganese sulfate (technical) 7 Riboflavin ISO Niacin — Nitrofurozone premix — % protein (NX6.25) 22.3 % methionine 0.34
Experiment No. 3, poults.
NEWS AND NOTES
SUMMARY Chicks and poults were fed diets containing a high percentage of wheat to 10 weeks and 8 weeks of age respectively. In all cases growth and feed efficiency were satisfactory. The addition of DL-methionine to the diets resulted in a small but consistent improvement in feed efficiency but not in any clearly defined effect on the average weights reached by the birds. REFERENCES Almquist, H. J., E. Mecchi, F . H . Kratzer and C. R. Grau, 1942. Soybean protein as a source of amino acids for the chick. J. Nutrition, 24: 385-392. Bird, H. R., and J. P. Mattingly, 1945. Addition of DL-methionine to starting and growing mashes. Poultry Sci. 24: 29-33.
Bird, H. R., S. J. Marsden and W. L. Kellogg, 1948. Supplements for soybean meal in turkey diets. Poultry Sci. 27: 53-59. Clandinin, D. R., W. W. Cravens, J. G. Halpin and E. B. Hart, 1946. Supplementary value of methionine, cystine and choline in a practical soybean oil meal starter ration. Poultry Sci. 25: 509-516. Hayward, J. W., and F. H. Hafner, 1941. The supplementary effect of cystine and methionine upon the protein of raw and cooked soybeans as determined with chicks and rats. Poultry Sci. 20: 139150. Kratzer, F. H., D. E. Williams and B. Marshall, 1949. The sulfur amino acid requirements of turkey poults. J. Nutrition, 37: 377-383. Machlin, L. J., C. A. Denton and H. R. Bird, 1952. Supplementation with vitamin Bi2 and amino acids of chick diets containing soybean and cotton seed meal. Poultry Sci. 31:110-114. Milligan, J. L., L. J. Machlin, H. R. Bird and B. W. Heywang, 1951. Lysine and methionine requirements of chicks fed practical diets. Poultry Sci. 30: 578-586. Mishler, D. H., C. W. Carrick and S. M. Hauge, 1948. Condensed fish solubles as a supplement for corn and soybean oil meal chick ratios. Poultry Sci. 27: 263-269. Saxena, H. C , and J. McGinnis, 1952. Effect of methionine on the feed efficiency of chicks. Poultry Sci. 31: 934. Slinger, S. J., D. C. Hill, K. M. Gartley and H. D. Branion, 1949. Soybean oil meal and sunflower seed oil meal in rations for Broad-Breasted Bronze turkeys. Poultry Sci. 28: 534-540. Slinger, S. J., W. F . Pepper, D. C. Hill and E. S. Snyder, 1952. Supplements to a soybean oil meal-cereal grain broiler diet "adequate" in vitamin Bi2. Poultry Sci. 31:193-201. Stokes, J . L., M. Gunness, I. M. Dwyer and M. C. Caswell, 1945. Microbiological methods for the determination of amino acids. I I . A uniform assay for the ten essential amino acids. J. Biol. Chem. 160: 35-49.
NEWS AND NOTES (Continued from page 572) DELAWARE NOTES
is being used to produce chicks for experimental projects. There is a laboratory for poultry killing and dressing research. S. L. McHenry has returned to his former position as Assistant Extension Poultryman at the University of Delaware. For the past two years he has served as U. S. Navy Brigade Commander at Bainbridge, Md. (Continued on page 578)
The Oliver A. Newton building, a new poultry service building at the Agricultural Experiment Station, Newark, is now in use. The building was named in memory of the father of W. C. Newton, Bridgeville, who donated funds for the construction of the building. Facilities include a model hatchery which
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Florida International University on May 24, 2015
response to supplemental methionine is surprising in view of the level of methionine found by assay in the basal diets (Table 1). Values are considerably below the optimum dietary levels for growth of 0.55 percent for chicks reported by Almquist et al. (1942) and 0.5 percent for poults reported by Kratzer el al. (1949). In the present experiments either the optimum level for growth was less than the above values or the method of assay used for methionine was giving results lower than the true values. Milligan et al. (1951) reported that the requirement for methionine of Rhode Island Red chicks fed soybean oil meal as the only protein supplement was no higher than 0.42 percent up to 6 weeks of age.
575
HERE is considerable evidence that chick diets containing soybean oil meal as the only protein supplement are improved by the addition of methionine (Hayward and Hafner, 1941; Bird and Mattingly, 1945; Clandinin et al., 1946; Mishler et al., 1948; Machlin et al, 1952; Slinger et al., 1952). Similar observations have been made with poults (Bird et al., 1948; Slinger et al., 1949; Saxena and McGinnis, 1952). Basal diets used in the above mentioned studies were high in corn with a relatively small proportion of wheat or other grains. Such diets are not typical of Ontario where wheat, rather than corn, is usually the predominating cereal grain in the formula. Although many published analyses show that wheat and corn are similar in methionine content it was of interest to study the effect of methionine supplementation of diets containing relatively high levels of wheat and soybean oil meal. EXPERIMENTAL Chicks were sexed and weighed individually at day old. Each sex was divided into groups of chicks of similar weight and randomized into the various experimental lots from within each weight group. In experiment 1 the birds were housed in battery brooders and in experiment 2 on the floor with wood shavings as litter. Poults in experiment 3 were assigned to the experimental lots in a similar manner and were kept on the floor with wood shavings as litter. In experiment 1 each lot, at the start, 573
consisted of 20 day-old Columbian Rock chicks, in experiment 2, 100 day-old Columbian Rock chicks, and in experiment 3, 33 male or 37 female day-old BroadBreasted Bronze poults. Males and females were maintained separately in the three experiments. Composition of the basal diets is given in Table 1. The basal diets were analyzed for crude protein and methionine. Methionine was determined by the method of Stokes et al. (1945) with the modification that a total assay volume of 4 ml. per tube was used rather than 10 ml. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The weight and feed efficiency data are presented in Table 2. Average weights obtained for the various groups showed no consistent trend related to methionine supplementation. With one exception (experiment 3 males, 8 weeks, 0 and 0.5 lbs. per ton of added methionine) no statistically significant differences (P = 0.01) were found among the average weights of comparable groups receiving no supplemental methionine and receiving supplemental methionine. Nevertheless, in experiment 2, for which large numbers of chicks were used, the data suggest that an increase in the level of added methionine from 0.5 to 1.0 lbs. per ton resulted in somewhat smaller average weights. In each experiment feed: gain ratios showed a trend~to lower values when additional methionine was fed. The one exception fo this was the female birds in
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Florida International University on May 24, 2015
T
574
S. J. SLINGER, W. F. PEPPER AND D. C. HILL TABLE 1.—Composition of basal diets per 100 lbs.
Experiment N^. 1, chicks
Experiment No. 2, chicks
To 52 days
52-70 days
To 6 weeks
6-10 weeks
54.0 lbs. 25.0 lbs.
54.0 lbs. 10.0 lbs.
53.0 lbs. 25.0 lbs.
Ingredient
lbs. lbs. lbs. lbs. lbs. lbs. lbs. lbs. lbs. lbs. lbs. gms. gms. mgs.
—
1.0 2.0 1.0 1.5
—
12.0 1.5 1.5 0.25 0.25 34 7 ISO
1.0 2.5 2.0 2.0
lbs. lbs. lbs. lbs. lbs. gms. gms. mgs.
lbs. lbs. lbs. lbs.
—
25.0 lbs. 1.5 lbs. 1.5 lbs. 0.25 lbs. 0.25 lbs. 45.4 gms. 7 gms. ISO mgs.
— —
—
22.7 gms. 25.1 0.39
17.8 0.29
experiment 2. In this case the feed: gain ratio was essentially the same whether or not methionine was fed. However, it is reasonable to conclude that supplemental methionine was causing an improvement in feed efficiency. This conclusion is supported by similar results found with chicks in an earlier experiment by Slinger et al. (1952). The basal diets used by Slinger et al. (1952) contained over 50 percent yellow corn but like the diets used in TABLE 2.—Effect
—
lbs. lbs. lbs. lbs.
—
2.0 2.0 1.0 1.5
To 8 weeks 21.5 15.0 5.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 45.0
lbs. lbs. lbs. lbs.
—
12.0 lbs. 1.5 lbs. 1.5 lbs. 0.25 lbs. 0.25 lbs. 34 gms. 7 gms. 150 mgs. 0.5 gms. 22.7 gms. 18.8 0.30
•—
2.5 2.0 0.5 0.5 22.7 5.7 0.2 0.75
lbs. lbs. lbs. lbs. lbs. lbs. lbs. lbs. lbs. lbs. lbs. lbs. gms. gms. gms. gms.
—
28.8 0.41
the present experiment contained fish meal and dried buttermilk. Saxena and McGinnis (1952) reported that DL-methionine added to chick and poult diets did not improve growth but increased feed efficiency. Both chick and poult diets were high in corn. The former contained dried buttermilk both with and without fish meal and the latter 10 percent fish meal. The apparent lack of a positive growth
of supplementary methionine on the growth and feed efficiency of chicks and poults Average weight in grams2
Feed: gain ratio
DL-methionine1 added to basal (lbs. per ton)
&
9
U.A.3
9
U.A.3
o*
9
U.A.s
No. 1 chicks
0 0.5 0.75 1.0
1,024(19) 1,005(20) 1,015(20) 1,007(20)
848(20) 875(20) 876(19) 864(20)
936 940 946 936
1,541(19) 1,528(20) 1,564(19) 1,539(20)
1,248(20) 1,286(20) 1,320(19) 1,287(20)
1,395 1,407 1,442 1,413
2.47 2.43 2.48 2.34
2.76 2.64 2.76 2.64
2.62 2.54 2.62 2.49
No. 2 chicks
0 0.5 1.0
6 weeks 727 (95) 608 (98) 751(96) 614(99) 734 (95) 592 (96)
668 683 663
1,501(95) 1,510(95) 1,481(93)
10 weeks 1,186(97) 1,185(98) 1,171(96)
1,344 1,348 1,326
6 weeks 2.46 2.57 2.52 2.33 2.47 2.40 2.32 2.54 2.43
2.90 2.83 2.80
10 weeks 3.02 2.96 3.03 2.93 3.02 2.91
No. 3 poults
0 0.5 1.0
4 weeks 637 (33) 526 (36) 634 (27) 546 (37) 629 (31) 544 (37)
582 590 587
2,041(33) 2,167(27) 2,102(30)
8 weeks 1,679(35) 1,721(37) 1,677(35)
1,860 1,944 1,890
1.95 1.90 1.94
4 weeks 2.13 2.04 1.99 1.95 2.02 1.98
2.25 2.19 2.23
8 weeks 2.38 2.32 2.27 2.23 2.31 2.27
Experiment
52 days
10 weeks
52 days
10 weeks &
9
2.83 3.21 2.76 3.04 2.76 3.09 2.73 3.02
U.A." 3.02 2.90 2.93 2.88
1 The DL-methionine used in these experiments was supplied by Merck and Co. Ltd., Montreal, Que. and by Dow Chemical Co. of Canada Ltd., Sarnia, Ont. » Numbers of surviving birds are in parentheses. • U.A.—Unweighted Average.
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Florida International University on May 24, 2015
61.0 Ground wheat 5.0 Ground corn Ground oat groats — Cereal grass 1.0 Fish meal 2.5 Meat meal 2.0 Dried buttermilk 2.0 Soybean oil meal (44%) — Soybean oil meal (50%) 23.0 Ground limestone 1.5 Steamed bone meal 1.5 Iodized salt 0.25 Fortified fish oil (400D, 2,400A) 0.25 B 12 and penicillin supplement 34 Manganese sulfate (technical) 7 Riboflavin ISO Niacin — Nitrofurozone premix — % protein (NX6.25) 22.3 % methionine 0.34
Experiment No. 3, poults.
NEWS AND NOTES
SUMMARY Chicks and poults were fed diets containing a high percentage of wheat to 10 weeks and 8 weeks of age respectively. In all cases growth and feed efficiency were satisfactory. The addition of DL-methionine to the diets resulted in a small but consistent improvement in feed efficiency but not in any clearly defined effect on the average weights reached by the birds. REFERENCES Almquist, H. J., E. Mecchi, F . H . Kratzer and C. R. Grau, 1942. Soybean protein as a source of amino acids for the chick. J. Nutrition, 24: 385-392. Bird, H. R., and J. P. Mattingly, 1945. Addition of DL-methionine to starting and growing mashes. Poultry Sci. 24: 29-33.
Bird, H. R., S. J. Marsden and W. L. Kellogg, 1948. Supplements for soybean meal in turkey diets. Poultry Sci. 27: 53-59. Clandinin, D. R., W. W. Cravens, J. G. Halpin and E. B. Hart, 1946. Supplementary value of methionine, cystine and choline in a practical soybean oil meal starter ration. Poultry Sci. 25: 509-516. Hayward, J. W., and F. H. Hafner, 1941. The supplementary effect of cystine and methionine upon the protein of raw and cooked soybeans as determined with chicks and rats. Poultry Sci. 20: 139150. Kratzer, F. H., D. E. Williams and B. Marshall, 1949. The sulfur amino acid requirements of turkey poults. J. Nutrition, 37: 377-383. Machlin, L. J., C. A. Denton and H. R. Bird, 1952. Supplementation with vitamin Bi2 and amino acids of chick diets containing soybean and cotton seed meal. Poultry Sci. 31:110-114. Milligan, J. L., L. J. Machlin, H. R. Bird and B. W. Heywang, 1951. Lysine and methionine requirements of chicks fed practical diets. Poultry Sci. 30: 578-586. Mishler, D. H., C. W. Carrick and S. M. Hauge, 1948. Condensed fish solubles as a supplement for corn and soybean oil meal chick ratios. Poultry Sci. 27: 263-269. Saxena, H. C , and J. McGinnis, 1952. Effect of methionine on the feed efficiency of chicks. Poultry Sci. 31: 934. Slinger, S. J., D. C. Hill, K. M. Gartley and H. D. Branion, 1949. Soybean oil meal and sunflower seed oil meal in rations for Broad-Breasted Bronze turkeys. Poultry Sci. 28: 534-540. Slinger, S. J., W. F . Pepper, D. C. Hill and E. S. Snyder, 1952. Supplements to a soybean oil meal-cereal grain broiler diet "adequate" in vitamin Bi2. Poultry Sci. 31:193-201. Stokes, J . L., M. Gunness, I. M. Dwyer and M. C. Caswell, 1945. Microbiological methods for the determination of amino acids. I I . A uniform assay for the ten essential amino acids. J. Biol. Chem. 160: 35-49.
NEWS AND NOTES (Continued from page 572) DELAWARE NOTES
is being used to produce chicks for experimental projects. There is a laboratory for poultry killing and dressing research. S. L. McHenry has returned to his former position as Assistant Extension Poultryman at the University of Delaware. For the past two years he has served as U. S. Navy Brigade Commander at Bainbridge, Md. (Continued on page 578)
The Oliver A. Newton building, a new poultry service building at the Agricultural Experiment Station, Newark, is now in use. The building was named in memory of the father of W. C. Newton, Bridgeville, who donated funds for the construction of the building. Facilities include a model hatchery which
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Florida International University on May 24, 2015
response to supplemental methionine is surprising in view of the level of methionine found by assay in the basal diets (Table 1). Values are considerably below the optimum dietary levels for growth of 0.55 percent for chicks reported by Almquist et al. (1942) and 0.5 percent for poults reported by Kratzer el al. (1949). In the present experiments either the optimum level for growth was less than the above values or the method of assay used for methionine was giving results lower than the true values. Milligan et al. (1951) reported that the requirement for methionine of Rhode Island Red chicks fed soybean oil meal as the only protein supplement was no higher than 0.42 percent up to 6 weeks of age.
575