Re-evaluation of the methionine and protein requirements of the broiler breeder hen.

ABSTRACT

Three experiments were conducted to study the Met and protein requirements of Arbor Acres broiler breeder hens. Broken line regression analysis in Experiments 1 and 3 indicated the Met requirement was 335 and 323 mg/d, respectively, with a production of a daily egg content (EC) of 42.3 or 43.0 g. A broken line could not be fitted to the data in Experiment 2. Therefore, this procedure could not be used to calculate a requirement. An average of 7.83 mg Met was required to produce 1 g of EC. Using this value, the requirement for the three experiments would be 344 mg at the level of EC produced in these experiments. The requirement would be higher with either a higher rate of lay or with larger eggs.