The Lysine Requirements of Poults and Chicks

Abstract

Diets in which zein and edestin furnished the protein were used by Almquist and Mecchi (1942) to determine the chick’s requirements for lysine, which they found to be approximately 0.9% of the diet. More recently, sesame meal protein has been found to be deficient only in lysine (Almquist and Grau, 1944; Grau and Almquist, 1944). Because sesame meal is, for chicks, a complete source of amino acids other than lysine, it was used in these tests to determine the comparative lysine requirements of poults and chicks. METHODS In this study, sesame meal (44.4% crude protein) was the sole source of amino acids except for the lysine supplements. The basal diets, which were identical for poults and chicks consisted of: calcium gluconate 8, tricalcium phosphate 2, dipotassium phosphate 0.5, potassium chloride 0.3, sodium chloride 1.0, choline chloride 0.2, inositol 0.1, cholic acid 0.1, crude soybean oil 5, mixed tocopherols 0.05, and . . .