Methionine and protein requirements of young turkeys

Nine experiments involving a total of 3697 turkeys divided into 48 pens per experiment were conducted to determine the methionine or total sulfur amino acid and the protein requirements of Medium White turkeys between 0 and 4 weeks and between 4 and 8 weeks of age. In each experiment, 24 diets varying in protein and methionine content in a 4 X 6 factorial design were fed. Body weight gains were found to be more closely related to the total sulfur amino acid content than to the methionine content of practical type corn-soybean meal diets. For the respective age periods between 0 to 4 and 4 to 8 weeks, the total sulfur amino acid requirements of Medium White turkeys were approximately 1.10 and 1.00% or 3.8 and 3.4 mg per kcal metabolizable energy, and the minimum protein requirements were at least 27% and 24% when diets contained sufficient total amino acids.