Bioavailability of threonine in soybean meal for rats and chicks

The availability of soy bean meal threonine for use of rats and chicks was assessed by providing the test animals with threonine-supplemented diets. The resulting growth rate was interpreted as a measure of feed conversion and bioavailability of threonine. Results indicated that threonine in soybean meal has 91% bioavailability for rats and 103% for chicks as compared to crystalline L-threonine. Supplementing the diet with other amino acids did not influence the bioavailability of threonine.