A Need for Glycine in Crystalline Amino Acid Diets

Abstract

In a recent report Klain et al. (1960) were unable to show any improvement in weight gain or feed utilization by the addition of glycine to a 20 percent protein chick diet devoid of glycine and serine. It would appear from their report that glycine could be synthesized at a rate commensurate with the needs of the chick on the amino acid diet used. The results reported herein indicate that supplemental glycine will improve the performance of chicks fed a crystalline amino acid diet capable of sustaining a more rapid rate of growth than Klain's diet. Male chicks originating from the mating of New Hampshire males to Columbian females were used in this study. Five chicks, carefully selected for uniformity of weight at nine days, were fed the experimental diets for a period of five days. The chicks were housed individually in electrically heated wire cages equipped with Pyrex dishes …