Methionine Hydroxy Analogue and l-Methiomne in Broiler Diets

IT HAS been demonstrated by many workers (Bird and Mattingly, 1945; Clandinin et al., 1946; Saxena and McGinnis, 1952; German and Couch, 1950; and others) that the addition of methionine to broiler rations accelerated growth. Marett and Sunde (1966) found that full utilization of the isomers of methionine by the chick was dependent on the amino acid composition of the diets. The incorporation of methionine analogue did not produce as great a growth as did l-methionine. The results indicated that when mixtures of l-methionine and methionine analogue were supplemented to the diet of chicks at levels, equivalent to a 0.5% and 0.7% l-methionine, mixtures of about ⅔ l-methionine and ⅓ methionine analogue produced growth significantly better than with methionine analogue alone, ⅔ methionine analogue or ½ l-methionine mixtures. The above workers also found that when l-methionine was used at 0.8% level and compared with 0.96% methionine analogue (0.08% l-methionine equivalent), . . .