Two experiments were carried out to compare two techniques (amino acid supplementation and dilution) for formulating experimental diets for pre-starter (1 to 8 days) and starter (8 to 22 days) broiler chicks and to estimate digestible lysine requirements using the dose-response method. In each experiment, 1,200 male Cobb 500 chickens were randomly distributed according to a 5x2 factorial arrangement (lysine level x formulation technique) with six replicates of 20 birds each. For the supplemented diet, a basal diet was formulated to meet the nutritional requirements, then L-lysine HCl was added to achieve digestible lysine levels of 0.975, 1.082, 1.189, 1.296 and 1.403% in the pre-starter diets and 0.840, 0.932, 1.024, 1.116 and 1.208% in the starter diets. For the diluted diet, a diet high in crude protein (CP) and relatively low in lysine was formulated and to which was added a protein-free diet until lysine levels were similar to those described above for the supplemented diet. The results suggest that the dilution technique favored the performance potential and better met lysine requirements compared with the supplementation technique. Lysine levels required for optimal feed conversion ratio of broilers during the pre-starter and starter phases were estimated at 1.361 and 1.187%, which are equivalent to lysine intake of 0.340 and 0.797 g/day, respectively.

A fibrolytic enzyme complex was added to the pre-starter diet. Broiler chicks were randomly distributed into five treatments, consisting of a diet with no enzyme addition and four test diets supplemented with 100, 200, 300 and 400g/T of an enzyme complex. The dietary inclusion of the enzyme complex increased weight gain, and the dose of 300g/T improved weight gain and worsened feed conversion ratio.

The aim of this work was to compare the efficiency of total (TC) or partial (PC) collection excreta methods to determine metabolizable energy in poultry feeds. A number of 180 12- to 21-day-old broilers were distributed into two treatments of six replicates of 10 birds each. A reference-diet was formulated to supply broiler requirements, and the test-diets consisted of 60% of reference diets and 40% of corn or soybean meal. Celite was added at 1% to the diets as a marker. Excreta and diet samples were analyzed for dry matter, energy, nitrogen, and acid-insoluble ash (AIA). AME of corn determined by partial collection (PC) was higher (3544 kcal/kg) as compared to total collection (TC) (3133 kcal/kg). However, no difference were observed for soybean meal (1797 vs. 1821 kcal/kg) between both methods. Marker recovery rates in the excreta were 101, 111, and 96% for the basal-diet, and the test-diets with corn or soybean meal, respectively. This result indicates the importance of marker recovery rate in the excreta to evaluate feed AME and digestibility.