About 128,000 laying hens don’t lie: the nutritional value of DL-methionine hydroxy analogue is 65 % that of MetAMINO®

Key information

• Compared to growing poultry, exact determination of the relative bioavailability of methionine hydroxy analogue compared to MetAMINO® is constrained by physiological mechanisms in laying hens which often result in overestimation of the relative bioavailability.
• The relative bioavailability of 65 % for methionine hydroxy analogue is applicable in layers and bears no risk in terms of performance depression, as confirmed by three recent feeding experiments performed in Germany, the Czech Republic and Mexico.
• The German trial comprised a current diet with liquid MHA-FA and a diet with MetAMINO® supplemented by 65 % as much (product-based) as in the current treatment. It took place in a commercial unit with about 126,000 hens over a period of 180 days. The study revealed significant savings for the farm management, as well as numerically improved performance with the MetAMINO® treatment.
• The Czech trial comprised an unsupplemented control treatment and two pairs of treatments in a 65:100 replacement manner at two targeted dietary Met+Cys levels. In this case, MetAMINO® replaced MHA-Ca. Supplementation improved performance but there were no differences between the two methionine source treatments.
• The Mexican trial followed a similar design as the previous one but used liquid MHA-FA. As in the previous trial, supplementation improved performance but there were no differences between the two methionine source treatments.
• With respect to all commercial trials, including more the 2 million layers in about 30 trials conducted since 1995, the results of these three experiments exactly confirm the overall outcome.
• The overall conclusion is that MetAMINO® can replace methionine hydroxy analogue in a 65:100 ratio (product-based) without compromising performance but improving profitability when the applied relative bioavailability for the hydroxy analogue product and/or the price ratio between methionine sources is greater than 65 %.
• The outcome of this trial is in line with recent opinion of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA, 2018) suggesting a bio-efficacy figure of 75 % for MHA-products on molar level which translates into a figure of 67 % on product basis.