Effect of deficiencies of single essential amino acids on nitrogen and energy utilisation in chicks

1. Diets 50% deficient in single essential amino acids were fed to chicks from day 8 to day 18 after hatching to evaluate body-weight gain, food consumption, body composition, nitrogen (N) and energy utilisation. 2. Body-weight gain was reduced most severely by deficiency of isoleucine followed in decreasing order by threonine, arginine, valine, histidine, tryptophan, methionine plus cystine, phenylalanine plus tyrosine, leucine and lysine, and possible reasons for the differences are discussed. 3. Body-weight gain and food efficiency were highly correlated with food consumption but metabolisable energy value of diets was not affected by single essential amino acid deficiencies. 4. Generally N retention (N retained/N consumed) and energy retention (energy retained/energy consumed) reflected food consumption, except for a lower N retention by chicks fed on the methionine plus cystine-deficient diet and for a lower energy retention by chicks fed on the valine deficient diet. 5. The amino acid deficient in the diet was present at very low concentration in the blood plasma.