Journal of Animal Science and Technology
Korean Society of Animal Science and Technology
Article

Growth performance of broiler chickens fed diets containing granulated L-methionine compared with DL-methionine

June Hyeok Yoon1, Su Hyun An2, Yangsu Kim3, Hyeon-Jin Kim3, Changsu Kong1,2,4,*
1Department of Animal Science and Biotechnology, Kyungpook National University, Sangju 37224, Korea.
2Research Institute for Innovative Animal Science, Kyungpook National University, Sangju 37224, Korea.
3AA Tech Solution, CJ BIO, Seoul 04560, Korea.
4Department of Animal Science, Kyungpook National University, Sangju 37224, Korea.
*Corresponding Author: Changsu Kong, Department of Animal Science and Biotechnology, Kyungpook National University, Sangju 37224, Korea, Republic of. Research Institute for Innovative Animal Science, Kyungpook National University, Sangju 37224, Korea, Republic of. Department of Animal Science, Kyungpook National University, Sangju 37224, Korea, Republic of. E-mail: changsukong@gmail.com.

© Copyright 2024 Korean Society of Animal Science and Technology. This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Received: Feb 15, 2024; Revised: Apr 27, 2024; Accepted: May 01, 2024

Published Online: May 03, 2024

Abstract

A novel granulated L-methionine (Met) has been developed using a simplified purification process, however its replacement with DL-Met has not yet been explored. The objective of the present study was to investigate the growth performance of broilers fed diets containing granulated L-Met (90% purity) compared to a diet containing DL-Met (99% purity). A total of 192 one-day-old broilers were allocated in four dietary treatments with six replicates (eight birds/cage) in a randomized complete block design based on body weight as the blocking factor. Twelve experimental diets were used, with four for each of the three growth stages: pre-starter (day 0 to 7), starter (day 7 to 21), and grower (day 21 to 28). The experimental diets consisted of: (1) a diet containing DL-Met at 100% of the digestible Met requirement, (2) a diet containing granulated L-Met at 85% of the digestible Met requirement, (3) a diet containing granulated L-Met at 90% of the digestible Met requirement, and (4) a diet containing granulated L-Met at the same inclusion rate (approximately 95% of the digestible Met requirement) as diet 1. The broilers were fed experimental diets during the pre-starter, starter, and grower stages, and growth performance was recorded by correcting mortality throughout the experiment period. Over the entire 28-day period, body weight gain and feed intake of broilers fed diets containing granulated L-Met increased linearly (<italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.05) with an increase in dietary granulated L-Met supplementation. However, the growth performance of broilers fed diets containing granulated L-Met did not differ from those fed a diet containing DL-Met. The bioefficacy of L-Met relative to DL-Met for body weight gain and gain-to-feed ratio during the pre-starter stage was 116.9% and 104.0%, respectively. During the starter stage, the bioefficacy of L-Met relative to DL-Met was 127.5% and 111.0% for body weight gain and gain-to-feed ratio, respectively. Results of the present study reveal that the growth performance of broilers fed diets containing granulated L-Met was comparable to those fed a diet containing DL-Met, despite the lower dietary Met intake than digestible Met requirement. This suggests that L-Met might exhibit greater bioefficacy relative to DL-Met.

Keywords: L-methionine; DL-methionine; growth performance; broilers