| Summary: | Summary: The inclusion of L-Val and L-Ile is progressively becoming an economically feasible strategy to reduce the dietary CP content of broiler diets. In the current experiment, the influence of supplementing the feed-grade branched chain amino acids (BCAA) Val and Ile was evaluated in corn and soybean meal–based (CSBM) diets, with or without the inclusion of either peanut meal (PM) or an animal protein blend (APB), on broiler growth performance (0–48 D), processing characteristics, and incidence of pododermatitis and litter characteristics. Supplementation of BCAA reduced analyzed CP by an average of 1.62 percentage units across 4 feeding phases. Overall (0–48 D), broiler body weight gain and FCR were unaffected when fed supplemental BCAA; however, feed intake was increased for those supplemented with BCAA. Overall growth performance was similar when including either PM or APB in CSBM diets. At processing, broilers fed BCAA diets had increased relative and absolute breast fillets and total white meat weights, as well as heavier fat pad weights. Nitrogen excretion was reduced when BCAA were supplemented, but no differences were observed for footpad dermatitis (FPD) lesion scores. Interestingly, APB supplementation did not impact litter moisture or nitrogen but improved FPD scores compared to birds fed CSBM, with PM-fed birds having intermediate FPD scores. In conclusion, these data indicate that BCAA inclusion can support CP reductions while maintaining growth performance, improving breast fillet yield, and reducing nitrogen excretion in broilers reared to market ages.
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