Abstract
Purified diets containing five levels of methionine with 0.4% cystine were fed to growing chicks (8 days old male Arbor Acre strain) to evaluate methionine requirements for growth and maintenance. A model was developed to separate methionine requirement for maintenance from requirement for growth. From this model the daily methionine requirement for growth was 4.22 mg/g gain, and the daily methionine requirement for maintenance was 0.034 times metabolic body size ($W^{0.75}$). Based on nitrogen gain response, the methionine requirement for growth was 0.162 mg/mg N gain, and the daily maintenance requirement was 0.037 times metabolic body size. The plateau of plasma methionine concentration reached at 117.16 mg intake pre day. The total methionine requirement determined based on weight gain response was 138.29 mg/day or 0.33% of the diet and the one determined based on nitrogen gain response was 141.7 mg/day of 0.34% of the diet, respectively. As a percentage of protein, methionine was calculated to be 2.6%; the reported methionine content of carcass CP was 1.76%.