Nutritive Value of Triticale for Young Chicks and Effect of Different Amino Acid Supplements on Growth

Experiments were conducted to determine the effect of including high levels of triticale in the diet of young chicks on growth and feed efficiency. Comparable levels of corn or rye were also fed for comparison. Additional experiments were conducted to determine which amino acids were deficient in a diet containing 73% triticale. Similarly, amino acid supplements were added to a 14% protein diet for chicks in which 8% protein in the diet came from triticale and the remainder from a mixture of ingredients. All experiments were conducted with day-old chicks which received the experimental diets to two weeks of age. Data on body weight and feed efficiency were collected at weekly intervals. Results indicate that chicks fed a diet containing 55% triticale were only slightly smaller than chicks fed a diet with the same level of corn. Chicks fed a similar diet containing rye grew more slowly than those fed either triticale or corn. Chicks fed a diet containing 73% triticale were smaller than chicks fed the corn diet and were not different from chicks receiving the rye containing diet. Procaine penicillin supplementation promoted increased growth of chicks on the corn or rye diets but not of those on the triticale diets. Lysine supplementation of the 73% triticale diet increased both chick growth and size of the growth response to penicillin. Supplements of tryptophan and methionine had no effect on chick growth. A low protein diet containing 8% protein from triticale and 6% from a premix was found to be deficient in both lysine and threonine. Supplemental methionine was in the premix.