# Investigation of standardized ileal amino acid digestibility of rice protein meal in sexed broilers

## TL;DR

This study evaluates how well male and female broiler chickens digest amino acids from rice protein meal made from two rice varieties, with and without a protease enzyme.

## Contribution

The study provides new data on amino acid digestibility of rice protein meal in sexed broilers, comparing two rice varieties and protease effects.

## Key findings

- Basmati rice protein meal showed higher standardized ileal digestibility of lysine and threonine compared to IRI rice.
- Female broilers had lower digestibility of several amino acids from Basmati rice protein meal.
- The addition of protease did not significantly affect amino acid digestibility.

## Abstract

Rice protein meal (RPM), a byproduct of the rice industry, has emerged as a potential alternative for poultry feed, especially in rice-producing regions in the South Asia region. The aim of this study was to evaluate the standardized ileal amino acid (AA) digestibility of RPM produced from two distinct rice varieties in sexed broiler chickens, with or without the inclusion of a commercial protease enzyme. Treatments were structured in a 2 × 2 × 2 factorial arrangement, including two sources of RPM (Basmati and IRI), sex (male and female), and protease levels (0 and 500 units per ton of feed). In addition to the test diets, a reference diet based on soybean meal (SBM) and a nitrogen-free diet (NFD) were included in the experiment. Titanium dioxide was added on 0.30% of the diets as an inert marker. Experimental diets were fed to 6 replicates, each consisting of male and female chicks, from 21 to 28 days of age. The data were analyzed using General Linear Model techniques with the help of SPSS 16.0. The main effect of varieties was significant (P < 0.05), as the standardized ileal digestibility (SID) of lysine (57.8%) and threonine (50.7%) was higher for Basmati compared to IRI. The SID for arginine was lower (P = 0.02), and the SID of cysteine (14.4%), isoleucine (47.3%), leucine (46.1%), valine (45.2%), and histidine (49.6%) tended to be lower (P < 0.07) in females for RPM derived from Basmati rice. Protease had no effect on the SID of AA, nor did any of the other three- or two-way interactions.