Amino Acid Considerations for Modern Broilers

Drs. Tillman and Dozier, thank you for the very informative article. I am curious what your thoughts are during this synthetic methionine shortage (price increases) on whether we can push more cysteine through via any typical feedstuffs, or how much Met can be spared in the modern bird with other methyl donors such as betaine or choline? Thanks again for the current information. James Pierce

Dr. Pierce, Thanks for the inquiry. With current Methionine cost, it is indeed very important to make certain that the birds methyl requirement is not being met with Methionine, but by cost-effect source(s) of Methyl groups (Choline / Betaine). This can be done by targeting a certain minimum added level for choline and/or betaine. Conversely, it is perhaps even more important to assure that the requirement for total sulfur amino acids (TSAA : Methionine + Cysteine) is met by digestible sources for those amino acids (essentially methionine as cysteine / cystine is not economically feasible at this point in time). This is vital as Methionine (or TSAA) are the 1st limiting amino acid(s) for poultry and are vital for optimal bird performance (growth, feed conversion, meat yield, etc.). Unfortunately, we don't have enough knowledge (IMHO) to know what the Cysteine / Cystine requirement is, although we do perhaps have that for Methionine itself or for TSAA as a whole. While feather meal is high in TSAA, the availability / digestibility of the amino acids from such an ingredient is quite low. I hope this helps.

yes it is good review article on SAA methionine and analog is cysteine . present age amino acid digestible are more discussed in the literature for formulation of poultry feed due to mono gastric.If manufacturing of methionine is based through chemical and biological fermentation technology then it is said the digestibility of such production difference also contribute to digestibility of methionine. Like wise all aminoacids limiting when considered. Do the methionine relationship with beitine and choline levels work like TSAA? Yes there is good support documents showing betaine and choline would reduce use of sythetic aa of methionine. It is good to learn such relationships but there is no quantification about the relationship with methionine by which synthetic methionine uses can be controlled. cost of amino acid s are also going up like ingredients and it is obvious when ingredients with more cheap saccharides are processed with fomentation or chemical technology for getting the final product of saa. Is it possible to have one line where we can fit the levels of SAA+choline+betaine+cystin to obtain more meaningful uses economically. Is there any need to know the methionine manufacturing process either chemical or bacterial to have better digestibility ? If we look future as the age of digestible aa then are we sure that we are in position to know the entire aa profiles of all ingredients before incorporation from time to time with business model of activities? Some bacterial impact have been reported which produce more and some restrict synthesis. Is there any possibility of impact between gut bacterial status with 98% methionine premix?

It's very important article, we can now use ofCorn gluten meal which is cheaper than synthetic met.and is aa good source of methionine for formulation

More options for replacing Synthetic Methionine Supplementation: 1. Direct fed Microbes which can produce Methionine within the gut 2. Near Nano sized Methionine in suspension to which zinc is embedded and bioencapsulated with a biopolymer. On having your mail ID, i can post detailed profiles of these two products which are very cost effective and have many other benefits. Regards dr.vijay@agrilife.in