NUTRITIONAL-VALUE AND QUALITY OF SQUID (ILLEX-ILLECEBROSUS) MEAL AS SOURCE OF DIETARY-PROTEIN FOR BROILER CHICKEN

1. Squid meal (SqM), produced by grinding and drying the whole squid (Illex illecebrosus) common to the northeast Atlantic and Mediterranean, contained 645 g protein/kg and appeared limiting with respect to lysine, methionine and cystine. 2. Although a comparison of the essential amino acid profiles of SqM with other protein concentrates indicated that SqM was higher than fish meal andsoya-beanmeal but lower than casein or whole-egg protein, these tests could not accurately predict protein quality. 3. A new approach is reported for evaluating protein quality of SqM. It was based on the direct chromato-graphic determination of its collagen content, from the amounts of 5-hydroxylysine or 5-hydroxyproline present, and elastin, from the amounts of desmosine or iso-desmosine present. This method can alsobe routinely used to assess the connective tissue content and protein quality of animal protein supplements such as fish, meat-and-bone meals. 4. A nutritional evaluation of SqM as a source of protein for poultry was carried out using 320 male and 320 female Cobb chicks fed from I-d-old to 48 d, a control diet containing 50 g/kg fish meal or test diets containing 50 g, 100 g or 150 g SqM/kg. 5. Feeding of SqM at a rate of up to IOO g/kg diet resulted in optimum biological response and monetary returns. © 1979, The Nutrition Society. All rights reserved.