Exploring glycine and other amino acids in reduced protein wheat diets for broilers

Key information

• Supplementing only essential amino acids failed to maintain performance below 18.3 % crude protein during the grower period (days 7 to 35)
• Glycine plays an important role in broiler nutrition especially in reduced crude protein diets
• The interconversion of glycine and serine is confirmed, with serine supplementation matching that of glycine
• Adding excess threonine in reduced protein diets deteriorates performance
• Protein and amino acids have greater importance during early development up to 21 days of age compared to later phases
• Non-essential amino acids such as aspartic acid and glutamine may become limiting in reduced protein diets
• Increasing amino acid density assists in maintaining performance in birds fed reduced protein diets
• Reducing dietary protein improves nitrogen efficiency, however, breast meat yield was compromised, and relative fat-pad weight increased