Theses and Dissertations

Issuing Body

Mississippi State University

Advisor

Kelley Wamsley

Committee Member

Jason Lee

Committee Member

Pratima Adhikari

Committee Member

Aaron Kiess

Date of Degree

8-6-2021

Original embargo terms

Visible to MSU only for 1 year

Document Type

Dissertation - Open Access

Major

Agricultural Sciences

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D)

College

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

College

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

Department

Department of Poultry Science

Department

Department of Poultry Science

Abstract

Within commercial broiler production, feed and feed manufacturing costs account for 60 to 70% of production costs. Of these feed costs specifically, ingredients that supply energy and protein represent the highest expenditure, verifying the importance of knowing the nutrient requirements of current broiler strains to ensure accurate least-cost formulation. To reduce these production costs and optimize performance, primary breeder companies and nutritionists continuously strive to improve nutrient utilization of commercial broiler strains. As a result of this, a great magnitude of work is conducted to determine the nutrient requirements for broilers, especially amino acids. Therefore, the overall objective of this dissertation was to utilize processing measurements, multiple statistical models, and economics as a whole to determine the optimal percent digestible Isoleucine:digestible Lysine ratio (dIle:dLys) for Ross 708 x Ross YP male broilers to improve growth performance and economic return. Chapter 2 determined the optimal dIle:dLys ratio for the starter phase (d 0-18), while Chapter 3 determined the optimal ratio for the grower phase (d 14-28), and Chapter 4 determined the optimal ratio for the finisher phase (d 28-42). All experimental diets for each respective growth phase were created from a common deficient corn and soybean meal-based diet. After manufacturing, half was retained to create the summit diet through the addition of crystalline Ile. The remaining five experimental diets for each respective growth phase were obtained by blending proportions of the deficient and summit diets. All dIle:dLys ratios were estimated using quadratic regression (QR; 95% of the asymptote), as well as linear and quadratic broken line models (LBL; QBL). Regression analysis from d 0-18 using multiple regression models estimated the ratios to range from 63-73% for BW and BWG and 68-74% for FCR. Based on the data from the grower phase and using multiple regression models, the estimated ratios ranged from 62-68% for BW and BWG and 67-70% for FCR and are similar to the current breeder nutrient specifications. Data from the finisher phase and once again using multiple regression models estimated the ratios to range from 62-66% for BW and BWG and 63-66% for FCR.

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