Nutritional value of high lysine sorghum grain for the chick

WHEN THE SORGHUM GRAINS WERE COMPARED ON EITHER AN EQUAL WEIGHT OR EQUAL PROTEIN LEVEL IN DIETS IN WHICH ALL PROTEIN WAS SUPPLIED BY THE SORGHUM GRAINS, THE HIGH LYSINE SORGHUM PRODUCED WEIGHT GAINS OF APPROXIMATELY THREE TIMES THOSE NOTED WITH THE COMMERCIAL ("NORMAL") SORGHUM AND WITH APPROXIMATELY 50% LESS FEED REQUIRED PER UNIT GRAIN. SUPPLEMENTATION OF THE NORMAL SORGHUM DIET WITH LYSINE TO EQUAL THE LEVEL SUPPLIED BY THE HIGH LYSINE SORGHUM RESULTED IN SIMILAR CHICK GROWTH AND FEED EFFICIENCY. THESE RESULTS INDICATE THAT THE IMPROVED PERFORMANCE OF CHICKS FED HIGH LYSINE SORGHUM WAS DUE SOLELY TO ITS HIGHER LYSINE CONTENT. CHICKS FED THE HIGH LYSINE SORGHUM DIETS SUPPLEMENTED WITH SAFFLOWER MEAL OR SOYBEAN MEAL TO A 15% PROTEIN LEVEL GREW 2.5 AND 1.9 TIMES FASTER, RESPECTIVELY, AND WERE SIGNIFICANTLY MORE EFFICIENT IN FEED UTILIZATION THAN THEIR CORRESPONDING COUNTERPARTS FED NORMAL SORGHUM DIETS. THESE RESULTS INDICATE THAT THE NUTRITIONAL QUALITY OF HIGH LYSINE SORGHUM GRAIN IS MARKEDLY SUPERIOR TO THAT OF TWO COMMERCIAL SORGHUM GRAINS.