Amino acid excesses for young pigs: effects of excess methionine, tryptophan, threonine or leucine

Five experiments involving 359 weanling (8 kg) pigs were conducted to evaluate the effects of dietary excesses of DL-methionine (Met), L-tryptophan (Trp), L-threonine (Thr) or L-leucine (Leu) when added to a 20% crude protein corn-soybean meal (C-SBM) diet. Experiments involved supplementing the basal diet with 0, .5, 1.0, 2.0 or 4.0% excesses of Met, Trp or Thr, or in the case of Leu, a 0, 1.0, 2.0, 4.0 or 6.0% excess. Levels of .5 and 1.0% excess Met did not depress feed intake (FI), weight gain (G) or gain/feed (G/F); 2.0 and 4.0% additions, however, depressed both FI and G but not G/F. Free Met in blood plasma increased linearly as dietary Met level increased, reaching over a 100-fold elevation at the highest Met level fed. Plasma Thr and serine (Ser) increased, and glycine (Gly) decreased, with each added increment of Met. With Trp, only the 4.0% addition depressed FI and G (but not G/F). None of the levels of excess Thr depressed performance. Excess Thr, in fact, tended to increase G/F. Free Thr, Ser and Gly in plasma increased linearly as graded increments of excess Thr were added to the diet. With Leu, a 6% addition depressed weight gain and food intake (but not G/F) but 1, 2 or 4% excesses were without effect. Plasma free Leu increased linearly while free isoleucine and valine decreased as graded increments of Leu were added to the diet. These results suggest that pigs can tolerate considerable excesses of Met, Trp, Thr and Leu without experiencing decreased voluntary feed intake or weight gain.