The amino acid requirements of the preruminant calf

Abstract

1. Ten calves (50–58 kg live weight) were given a diet consisting of diluted whole milk, wheat gluten and supplemented with appropriate nutrients including amino acids but deficient in lysine. The lysine requirements of these calves, which were growing at approximately 0.25 kg/d, were estimated from responses to lysine supplementation of this diet. From plasma urea, plasma lysine, nitrogen retention and apparent digestibility of N responses the estimated lysine requirements were 8.5, 7.5, 7.2 and 7.6 g/d respectively.2. From the mean lysine requirement (7.8 g/d) and the ratio, lysine: other essential amino acids in carcasses of similar calves the estimated requirements were (g/d): methionine 2.1, cystine 1.6, threonine 4.9, valine 4.8, isoleucine 3.4, leucine 8.4, tyrosine 3.0, phenylalanine 4.4, histidine 3.0, arginine 8.5, tryptophan 1.0.