Effect of Phenylalanine-free Diet on Phenylalanine Metabolism in the Adult Rooster

Abstract

This experiment was conducted to confirm the reason why roosters adapt themselves to a phenylalanine(Phe)-free diet. The results that recovery % of ¹⁴C of injected DL-Phe-2-¹⁴C in expired air reduced drastically for the Phe-free diet and the ratio of specific activity of tyrosine (Tyr) to that of Phe in tissue proteins was also much lower than that for the control diet possibly indicate that the pathway from Phe to Tyr is blocked to a larger extent for adaptation to the Phe-free diet in adult roosters.