BACKGROUND:Herbal methionine can be compared relative to
Dl-methionine with evaluation of bioavailability of this source of
methionine. OBJECTIVES: An experiment was carried out to
determine the relative bioefficacy of herbal methionine (H-Met)®
relative to DL-methionine (DL-Met) on performance criteria and
immunocompetence of Met sources in male broilers. Atotal of 160
male broilers were fed a Met-deficient basal diet or the basal diet
supplemented with three or four concentrations of each Met
sources. METHODS: Multiexponential and multilinear regressions
were used to determined bioavailability of herbal methionine (HMet)
®relative to DL-Met on performance and immunocompetence
of broilers. RESULTS: Body weight gain and feed intake of the
broilers fed H-Met or DL Met improved in the experiment,
regardless of Met sources, relative to those broilers that were fed the
basal diet. Immunocompetence of broilers were not significant at 28
day of age (p>0.05), whereas the broilers were significantly
affected by the additional levels of Met sources at 42 day of age.
CONCLUSIONS: The bioefficacy estimates for H-Met® relative to
DL-Met on a product basis were 55% for weight gain, 71% for feed
intake, 78% for feed conversion ratio, 70% for dilution 1-choloro 2-
3-dinitrobenzene (DNCB), 67% for sheep red blood cell (SRBC),
and 68% for phytohemagglutinine (PHA-P). The relative
effectiveness of H-Met® compared to that of DL-Met is 68% on
average across performance criteria and all immune criteria tested.
H-Met®can be supplemented as a new and natural source of Met for
the poultry industry.