Effects of lysine and methionine concentration in diet on performance, slaughter variables and serum biochemical profile in slow growing chicks fed rice based distillery dried grain with solubles

The feeding value of rice-distillery dried grain with solubles (r-DDGS) for dual-purpose chicks was assessed in two feeding experiments.

Day-old Srinidhi chicks (n=360) were divided into 6 equal groups with 10 replicates of 6 chicks each and fed r-DDGS at 0 or 15% in diet alongwith normal (100%) or higher (110 and 120%) concentration of lysine (Lys) and methionine (Met) individually (experiment 1). In the 2^nd experiment, day-old Vanaraja chicks (n=390) were divided into 5 equal groups with 13 replicates of 6 chicks each and fed r-DDGS at 0 or 15% in diet alongwith normal (100%) or higher (110%) concentration of Lys and Met, either individually or in combination.

Rice-DDGS significantly (P≤0.05) depressed body weight (BW), which was totally countered by Met at 110% concentration (expt. 1). In the expt. 2, r-DDGS showed no effect on BW and FCR, except at 4 weeks, where FCR was similar in the control and the 110% Met groups. Abdominal fat content decreased in the r-DDGS groups with excess Met concentration (110%) in diet. It is concluded that Met in excess (110%) of normal concentration enabled inclusion of r-DDGS at 15% in the diet of dual-purpose chicks.