Effect of dietary of lysine and methionine on performance of vanaraja breeder chicks

An experiment was conducted to study the effect of dietary concentrations of lysine (Lys) and methionine (Met) on performance of Vanaraja breeder (female parent line) chicks during juvenile stage. Nine diets were formulated to contain 3 different concentrations of Lys (0.9, 1.0 and 1.1%) and Met (0.4,0.5, and 0,6%) each in factorial manner. Each experimental diet was fed ad libitum to eight replicates of six chicks each during 0–6 weeks of age. The interaction between Lys and Met for body weight gain, feed conversion ratio, antibody litre to SRBC, cell mediated immune response in response to PHA-P inoculation, slaughter traits (dressing weight, giblet and abdominal fat content) and weight of immune organs (spleen, bursa and thymus) were found to be non significant. However, body weight gain was influenced independently by the main factor Lys and Met. Birds fed diet containing 1.0% Lys gained significantly (P<0.05) higher weight as compared to that of 0.9 or 1.1% Lys. Neither Lys nor Met levels in diet influenced feed conversion ratio, humoral, and cell mediated immune response, slaughter traits and weight of immune organs like bursa and spleen. The findings of the present study suggested that Vanaraja breeder (female parent line) chicks require 1% lysine and 0.4% methionine in diet for realizing optimum performance during 0 to 6 weeks of age.