Using 2-Hydroxy-4-(Methylthio) Butanoic Acid as a Source of Methionine in Broiler Diets

An experiment was carried out to determine the effects of using DL-methionine hydroxy analog 2-Hydroxy-4- (Methylthio) Butanoic acid (HMB) in broiler diets instead of methionine on broiler performance. Totally 256 female and male equal number of broiler chicks were used. A total of 4 groups, 1 control and 3 experimental group, were formed which contains 64 chicks in each of them. Each group divided into 4 subgroups which contains 16 equal numbers of female and male chicks. Rations were corn-soybean meal based. The 0.20% DL-methionine was added to control diet and HMB added to other three treatment groups 0.15, 0.20 and 0.25%, respectively. At the end of experiment there were no statistically differences observed in live weight, feed consumption, live weight gain and feed efficiency (P>0.05). However, although the live weight of the group that consumed 0.20% HMB and the control group were very close to each other, the live weight was lower about 55 g at the experimental groups consumed 0.15% and 0.25% HMB. These data shows that HMB which is DL-methionine hydroxy analog can be used as an alternative diet supplement to DL-methionine in broiler diets