Lysine requirement of growing male Pekin ducks

1. One growth experiment and one balance test were conducted to study the response to increasing levels of dietary lysine supplementation in male Pekin ducks with special reference to the growth periods from 1 to 3 weeks and 4 to 7 weeks of age. 2. Two different low-lysine diets were used as basal diets in both periods. The basal lysine levels were 7.6 g/kg (d 1 to 21) and 6.2 g/kg (d 22 to 49) and the ranges in lysine concentration were 7.6 to 12.6 g/kg (d 1 to 21) and 6.2 to 11.2 g/kg (d 22 to 49). 3. Growth performance, feed conversion efficiency and meat yield increased (P < 0.05) with increasing lysine concentration (requirement defined as 95% of the asymptote). 4. It is concluded that the dietary lysine concentration should be 0.93 g/MJ nitrogen corrected apparent metabolisable energy (AMEN) (11.7 g/kg) for the starter period (until d 21) and 0.75 g/MJ AMEN (10.0 g/kg) for the grower period (from d 22 onwards).