The sparing action of inorganic sulphate on sulphur amino acids in practical broiler diets: The capacity of sodium sulphate to replace some of the supplementary methionine in diets of chicks up to 5 weeks of age¹

Contribution from The Agricultural Research Organization, The Volcani Center, Bet Dagan, Israel. 1975 Series, no. 267E.

1. Graded responses, in terms of both weight gain and food/gain ratios, were obtained to increasing increments of Na₂SO₄ added to diets containing suboptimal amounts of sulphur amino acids.

2. In most cases the relative efficiency of Na₂SO₄ ranged from 25% to 55% of that of synthetic methionine, when the former replaced 0.04 to 0.05 percentage units of the latter. This efficiency tended to be higher during the 3 to 5 than the 1 to 3 weeks of age periods.

3. The addition of either methionine or Na₂SO₄ decreased relative food consumption, which was apparently increased by suboptimal contentra‐tions of dietary sulphur (as a compensatory response).

Notes

Contribution from The Agricultural Research Organization, The Volcani Center, Bet Dagan, Israel. 1975 Series, no. 267E.