The relation between starch digestion rate and amino acid level for broiler chickens

Institute for Animal Nutrition De Schothorst, Lelystad, The Netherlands. e.weurding@agrifirm.nl

Digestion coefficients of nutrients give information about the amount of nutrients available to the animal but not about the rate or site of absorption. Gradual digestion of starch may have an amino acid sparing effect and therefore enhance growth efficiency of broiler chickens. A growth trial was performed with 6,800 broiler chickens from 9 to 30 d of age to investigate interactions between starch digestion rate and amino acid level. Birds were fed either a pea-corn-based diet (slowly digestible starch) or a tapioca-corn-based diet (rapidly digestible starch). Both diets were formulated with five levels of digestible lysine, varying from 8.5 to 11.0 g/kg. The minimal levels of other amino acids varied accordingly. Starch source did not affect feed intake (2,213 g), but weight gain was consistently higher for birds on pea-corn diets than for those on tapioca-corn diets (1,426 vs. 1,400 g; P < 0.01). Feed conversion was better (P < 0.01) for birds on pea-corn diets (1.55) than for birds on tapioca-corn diets (1.58). The difference in feed conversion between birds on pea-corn and tapioca-corn diets was greater with lower amino acid levels (0.043) than with higher amino acid levels (0.019) in the diet (P = 0.11). This interaction was more pronounced during the first 9 d of the experiment (P < 0.05). It was concluded that feeding slowly digestible starch improved protein and energy utilization in broiler chickens.