Additivity and associative effects of metabolizable energy and amino acid digestibility of corn, soybean meal, and wheat red dog for White Pekin ducks.

The additivity of true amino acid digestibility (TAAD) and true metabolizable energy (TME) values in corn, soybean meal, and wheat red dog for White Pekin ducks was investigated. Differences between observed values for the complete diets and values predicted from measurements of individual ingredients were used to test additivity. Eight ducks were each assigned to the following dietary treatments: corn, soybean meal (44% CP), wheat red dog (wheat by-product with less than 4% fiber), complete Diet 1 (corn-soybean meal), complete Diet 2 (corn-red dog-soybean meal), and dextrose. Dextrose-fed ducks were used to estimate endogenous losses. The nitrogen-corrected TME (TMEn) in corn, soybean meal, wheat red dog, and two complete diets were 3.411, 2.919, 2.502, 3.148, and 3.111 kcal/g, respectively. In general, the TME and TMEn values observed in the two complete diets were not different (P > 0.05) from predicted values and indicated that the TME and TMEn in corn, soybean meal, and wheat red dog were all additive. The mean TAAD of corn, soybean meal, wheat red dog, and the two complete diets were not different, and were 87.03, 88.15, 90.58, 85.83, and 87.02%, respectively. The differences in TAAD between observed and predicted values were significant (P < 0.05) only for arginine, lysine, and aspartate in complete Diet 1, and for arginine, histidine, lysine, and aspartate in complete Diet 2. These results indicated that TME and TMEn values for corn,soybean meal, and wheat red dog were all additive in the two complete diets, but digestibilities of some amino acids were not additive and demonstrated some associative effects.