Abstract
The present study was conducted to study the effects of dietary amino acid and metabolizable energy (ME) levels on the performance of Hinai-dori at different ages, and to obtain the basic information of Hinai-dori preceding a series of experiment to determine the requirement of individual essential amino acids.
Three Hinai-dori chicks of both sexes per dietary group were confined individually in wire cages and were fed the experimental diets ad libitum from 7 to 21, 42 to 56 and 77 to 91 days of age in Experiments 1, 2 and 3, respectively. Experiments have a 3×5 factorial arrangement of treatment with three ME and five amino acid levels. The body weight and feed intake were recorded on the 14th day on the experimental diet.
There was no sexual difference in the response to dietary amino acid and ME levels for any of the parameters determined. The body weight gain and feed efficiency were improved with increasing of amino acid levels. The feed intake was not affected by amino acid levels. The body weight gain, feed efficiency and feed intake were not affected by ME levels. The amino acid level for the maximum body weight gain and feed efficiency decreased with age. The maximum body weight gain was observed at the period from 42 to 56 days of age.
