Effects of supplemental dietary lysine and methionine in a Groundnut Cake (GNC) based diets on meat and bone characteristics of broiler chickens were investigated. In a completely randomized design, a total of 168 one - day – old Arbor acre broiler chicks were randomly allocated to seven dietary treatments each in triplicate of eight birds per replicate. The Seven starter and finishers’ diets were: GNC based diets without any amino acid (lysine or methionine) supplementation (T1); GNC diet + 0.2% lysine (T2); GNC diet + 0.4% lysine (T3); GNC diet + 0.2% methionine (T4); GNC diet + 0.4% methionine (T5); GNC diet + 0.2 lysine and 0.2% methionine (T6) and GNC diet + 0.4% lysine and 0.4% methionine (T7). Experimental diets and water were offered to birds ad libitum in an experiment lasting six-week. At day 42, two birds per replicate were slaughtered, meat and bone characteristics determined. There were significant variations (P<0.05) in the crude protein (%) and ether extract (%), pH1 and pH2 of meat. Thiobarbituric acid reactive substances composition of meat at days 0, 5, and 10 were similar (P<0.05) and were not affected by dietary amino acid supplementation. Tibiotarsal index (mg/mm) of bone (22.10, 27.25, 33.35, 31.40, 28.70, 31.45 and 29.75 for broilers on T1, T2, T3, T4, T5, T6 and T7, respectively) were increased significantly (P<0.05) by amino acid supplementation. Significantly differences (P<0.05) were observed in the calcium, phosphorus and potassium (%) contents of broilers’ bone across treatments. Supplemental lysine and both lysine and methionine improved meat quality and bone development of broiler chickens in this study.
Responses of Broilers to Dietary Protein Levels and Amino Acid Supplementation to Low Protein Diets at Various Environmental Temperatures
