Effect of dietary fibre and caecectomy on the excretion of endogenous amino acids from adult cockerels

Abstract

1. Eight diets based on maize starch and sucrose were prepared, containing ground maize husks or semi-purified wood cellulose, with 30, 60, 90 or 120 g fibre source/kg diet dry matter (DM). 2. The diets were precision-fed to 12 caecectomised and 12 intact adult male domestic fowls. The quantities of amino acids and faecal N excreted over the 48 h following each feeding were measured. 3. Diet had no influence on the quantities of endogenous amino acids or endogenous faecal N excreted. 4. A proportion of the amino acids and N of the maize husks and of endogenous origin appeared to be degraded or retained in the caeca of intact birds.