Digestible Threonine Requirement of Broiler Chickens during the Period Three to Six and Six to Eight Weeks Posthatching

Four experiments were conducted to determine the digestible Thr requirement of commercial broiler chickens (Ross × Hubbard) during the period 3 to 6 and 6 to 8 wk posthatching. Threonine-deficient cornpeanut meal basal diets (3,200 ME_n/kg) contained 20% CP and 0.50% Thr for 3- to 6-wk-old birds, and 18.3% CP and 0.50% Thr for 6- to 8-wk-old birds. True digestibility assessment using cecectomized roosters indicated that Thr was 81% digestible in both basal diets. Thus, both diets contained 0.40% digestible Thr. Growth rate and feed efficiency of chicks fed the corn-peanut meal basal diets supplemented with surfeit Thr was equal to that of chicks fed a 20% CP Met-fortified corn-soybean meal diet. Graded doses of Thr produced marked responses (P < 0.05) in weight gain and feed efficiency in birds of both age groups. Maximal feed efficiency was achieved at 0.61% digestible Thr in 3- to 6-wk-old birds and at 0.52% digestible Thr in 6- to 8-wk-old birds. Extrapolating these digestible Thr requirements to total requirements for chicks consuming corn-soybean meal diets (Thr digestibility = 87%) results in estimates of 0.70 and 0.60% for broiler chickens during the growth periods 3 to 6 and 6 to 8 wk posthatching, respectively. These estimates are lower than those of NRC (1994) but are in close agreement with those obtained from ideal protein calculations, i.e., Thr requirements should be 70% of lysine requirements for chicks 3 to 8 wk of age.