ARGININE REQUIREMENT OF STARTING BROILER CHICKS

Three experiments were conducted to estimate the arginine requirement of male broiler chicks from 0 to 3 wk of age. The experiments were conducted in battery brooders with wires floors, and the birds received water and feed ad libitum. In the first experiment, chicks were fed a diet based on corn, soybean meal, casein, and corn-gluten meal containing 3,200 kcal ME per kg and either 20 or 23% crude protein. Regression analysis indicated an arginine requirement of 1.22% for maximum growth rate and feed efficiency with the 20% protein diet. For chicks fed the 23% protein diet, neither growth rate nor feed efficiency was significantly different among the diets containing arginine ranging from 1.13 to 1.43%. In the second experiment, a basal diet was used containing 17.5% casein and 22.5% protein with arginine ranging from 1.03 to 1.43%. An arginine requirement of 1.18% for maximum body weight gain was estimated by regression analysis, but no significant response to arginine above the basal level was observed for feed efficiency. Performance of chicks fed the basal diet was somewhat reduced because of a difficulty with adherence of feed to the beaks. In a third experiment, three basal diets containing 21, 22, or 23% protein were formulated from practical ingredients without use of casein. The requirement for maximum growth rate and feed efficiency was estimated to be 1.24 to 1.28% for the three diets. The results of these investigations indicate that the arginine requirement for starting chicks suggested by the National Research Council in 1984 of 1.44% in diets containing 3,200 kcal ME per kg is too high for practical diets. The data presented here support an arginine requirement of 1.25%.