Availability of Sulfur Amino Acids in Corn and Corn Gluten Meal for Growing Chicks

Abstract

Growth assays with 8-day-old crossbred chicks were used to estimate the availability of sulfur amino acids in corn gluten and corn protein by the slope-ratio technique and also by a standard curve method. The availability estimates for corn gluten meal were 98.9 ± 2.1% and 99.2 ± 1.6% and for corn 96.5 ± 6.5% and 93.9 ± 8.7% using the slope-ratio and standard curve methods, respectively. It would thus appear that not only are corn proteins (corn gluten meal and corn) relatively good sources of sulfur amino acids, but the sulfur amino acids are highly available.