The Availability of Amino Acids From Palm Kernel, Soybean, Cottonseed and Rapeseed Meal for the Growing Chick

Abstract

Amino acid composition was determined for palm kernel meal (PKM), soybean meal (SBM), cottonseed meal (CSM), and rapeseed meal (RSM). These protein sources were fed to broiler chicks to determine the availability of amino acids. The concentrations of amino acids were closely related to protein content with a few exceptions (e.g. arginine was high in PKM and glutamic acid was high in CSM). Amino acid availability varied among protein sources. Average amino acid availability (16 amino acids) was 84.5, 97.3, 92.5 and 91.9% from PKM, SBM, CSM and RSM respectively. Significant differences in availability of each individual amino acid were observed among feedstuffs tested. Also, considerable variation was observed for availability among amino acids within feedstuffs. Glycine and arginine were low in PKM whereas lysine was lowest in CSM and methionine was lowest in RSM. SBM showed high amino acid availability for all amino acids tested.