EFFECT OF SUPPLEMENTING RUMEN-PROTECTED LYSINE ON GROWTH PERFORMANCE AND PLASMA AMINO ACID CONCENTRATIONS IN SHEEP

This experiment was carried out to investigate the effect of rumen-protected lysine (RPLys) on growth rate, feed efficiency and plasma amino acid concentrations in sheep. RPLys was supplemented at the level of 0% ($T_1$), 0.2% ($T_2$) and 0.4% ($T_3$) of total DMI with 24 sheep in a 56 day feeding trial. The results are summarized as follows: 1. live weight gain of sheep in groups $T_1$, $T_2$ and $T_3$ was 219, 216 and 244 g/d, and was significantly (p < 0.05) higher for $T_3$ through the entire experiment. 2. Feed intake was not affected by RPLys supplementation. 3. The group fed $T_3$ had a significantly (p < 0.05) better feed efficiency than the groups fed $T_1$ and $T_3$. The response of $T_3$ was higher in growing period II of feeding low protein basal diet than in period I. 4. Plasma lysine concentrations tended to be higher with supplementing RPLys, but there were no differences between $T_2$ and $T_3$. 5. Supplementing RPLys in the diets increased plasma concentrations of arginine, asparagines, threonine, serine, valine and leucine compared with sheep receiving no RPLys. In contrast, plasma histidine was lower in sheep fed the supplementing RPLys than fed the diet $T_1$ with significant (p < 0.05) difference.