The Amino Acid Requirement of the Growing Chick Fed Crystalline Amino Acids

Abstract

Reports in the literature indicate that the growth of chicks ad libitum fed free amino acid diets as the only source of nitrogen is consistently poor. However, Glista (1951) found that chicks force-fed this type of diets grew as well as those receiving intact protein. A free amino acid diet has been developed which, when fed on an ad libitum basis, is consumed in sufficient amounts to support satisfactory growth (9–11 gm./ chick/day). This diet has been used to determine the requirement of the growing chick for each of the essential amino acids. The basal diet developed for use in these studies contained: corn starch, 29.46%; mineral mix1, 5.37%; corn oil, 30.00%; Solka floc, 3.00%; Gelusil (antiacid adsorbent), 1.0%; NaHCO3, 1.00%; choline chloride, 0.20%; amino acid mix, 30.00%; plus vitamins2. Several amino acid mixtures were fed in preliminary trials, but the most satisfactory results were obtained with a mixture . . .