Sesame Protein in Chick Diets.

In a previous note 1 the mutual supplementary action of soybean meal and sesame meal was reported, together with the results of preliminary experiments with sesame protein as the only source of protein in the diet of the chick.

The first experiment of the present series (Table I) was carried out concurrently with the last experiment in the previous report. To the basal diet in which sesame meal was the only protein source, 10% of casein, gelatin, or zein was added. After the chicks had been receiving the diets for 4 days, it appeared that the zein was ineffective in increasing the growth rate over that observed on the basal diet, while casein promoted optimal and gelatin slightly suboptimal growth. From these results and from recent data on the amino acid content of casein, 2 gelatin, 2 and zein, 3 a lysine deficiency in sesame meal was suspected (Table I). On the fourth day of the experiment, l(+)-lysine monohydrochloride was added to the zein-supplemented diet to provide 0.9% of the free amino acid. After 24 hours, the chicks in this group had gained enough to make their growth curve parallel to that of the casein group, and they gained at this rate for 4 more days. When the chicks were then returned to the unsupplemented diet, growth practically ceased, as in the beginning of the experiment. When 0.45% lysine was added after 5 more days, the growth curve again became parallel to that of the casein group.