Higher concentrations of folic acid reduced the dietary requirements of supplemental methionine for commercial broilers

OBJECTIVE

An experiment was conducted to study the effect of supplementing DL methionine (DL Met) at graded concentrations on performance, carcass variables, immune responses and antioxidant variables in broiler chicken fed folic acid (FA) fortified (4 mg/kg) lowmethionine diet.

METHODS

A basal diet (BD) without supplemental DL Met, but with higher level (4 mg/kg) of FA and a control diet (CD) with the recommended concentration of methionine (Met) were prepared. The BD was supplemented with DL Met at graded concentrations (0%, 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, and 50% supplemental DL Met of CD). Each diet was fed ad libitum to 10 replicates of 5 broiler male chicks in each from 1 to 42 d of age.

RESULTS

Body weight gain (BWG) reduced, and feed conversion ratio (FCR) increased in broilers fed low-Met BD. At 30% and 20% inclusion of DL met, the BWG and FCR, respectively were similar to those fed the CD. Similarly, supplementation of 10% DL Met to the BD significantly increased ready to cook meat yield and breast meat weight, which were similar to those of the CD fed broilers. Lipid peroxidation reduced, the activity of antioxidant enzymes (GSHPx and GSHRx) in serum increased and lymphocyte proliferation increased with increased supplemental DL Met level in the BD. The concentrations of total protein and albumin in serum increased with DL Met supplementation to the BD.

CONCLUSION

Based on the data, it can be concluded that supplemental Met can be reduced to less than 50% in broiler chicken diets (4.40, 3.94, and 3.39 g/kg, respectively in pre-starter, starter and finisher phases) containing 4 mg/kg FA.

Supplemental phosphorus can be completely replaced with microbial phytase in White Leghorn layer diets

1. A study was conducted to assess the possibility of totally replacing supplemental phosphorus sources in White Leghorn (WL) layer diets (aged 28 to 45 weeks of age) with microbial phytase supplementation. One thousand commercial layers (HyLine White) of 28 weeks of age were housed in California cages fitted in open-sided poultry shed at the rate of 20 layers in each replicate. Ten replicates were randomly allotted to each treatment, and the respective diet was fed from 28 to 45 weeks of age.2. A control diet (CD) containing the recommended levels of non-phytate phosphorus (3.6 g/kg NPP) and four other test diets (2-5) having sub-optimal levels of NPP (2.4, 2.0, 1.6 and 1.2 g/kg), but with supplemental microbial phytase (600 FTU/kg) were prepared and fed for the trial duration.3. The layers fed with lower levels of NPP with phytase had the same laying performance as the group fed the CD. Egg production, feed efficiency, egg mass, shell defects, egg density, shell weight, shell thickness, ash content and breaking strength of the tibia and sternum were not affected by feeding the lowest concentration of NPP (1.2 g/kg) plus microbial phytase.4. Phytase supplementation in diets with sub-optimal levels of NPP (2.4, 2 and 1.6 g/kg) significantly improved the Haugh unit score compared to those fed the CD.5. It was concluded that supplemental phosphorus can be completely replaced with microbial phytase (600 FTU/kg) in a diet without affecting egg production, shell quality or bone mineral variables in WL layers (28 to 45 weeks).