Abstract
An experiment was carried out to examine the effect of substituting two levels of sodium sulphate and sodium sulphite for supplementary synthetic methionine in practical broiler diets. Isocaloric diets [12.05 metabolisable energy (ME) MJ kg-1 starter and 11.96 ME MJ kg-1 finisher] and isoproteinous diets (23% crude protein starter and 21% crude protein finisher) were formulated such that the leve1 of synthetic methionine in the control diet (0.3% starter and 0.2% finisher) was substituted at 50% and 75% level each by Na2SO4 and Na2SO3. A total of 150 unsexed day-old broiler chickens were randomly assigned to the five dietary treatments. The treatments were replicated. Results obtained at the end of the eight-week experimental period showed no significant (P > 0.05) difference in body weight, feed intake, and feed conversion ratio. There were no significant (P > 0.05) differences for the retention coefficients of the proximate constituents of the diets, the values for carcass characteristics, relative organ weights, and mortality. These results suggested that sulphate and sulphite salts of sodium could be included in practical diets of broilers to augment synthetic methionine contents.
