AN EVALUATION OF THREONINE REQUIREMENTS OF YOUNG TURKEYS

Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the Thr requirements of mal e Large White turkeys from 3 to 6 and 6 to 9 wk of age. One group of t urkeys was fed to 3 wk using nutritionally adequate diets and fed test diets from 3 to 6 wk; another group of turkeys was fed to 6 wk using nutritionally adequate diets and fed test diets from 6 to 9 wk. Test d iets were composed of peanut meal, soybean meal, corn, and grain sorgh um as intact protein sources and were supplemented with amino acids. P eak performance of turkeys fed the test diets was equivalent to that o f turkeys fed conventional corn-soybean meal diets formulated to meet NRC (1994) standards. Estimates of Thr requirements for weight gain we re 0.92 and 0.86% for 3 to 6 and 6 to 9 wk, respectively. For feed con version, estimates of Thr requirements were 0.87% and 0.84% for 3 to 6 and 6 to 9 wk, respectively. The results of the two experiments repor ted herein would suggest that the Thr requirements suggested by NRC (1 994) for turkeys up to 9 wk of age are safe estimates; they may slight ly overestimate the requirements but not by a large margin.