A six-week trial was conducted to determine the effect of lowering dietary crude protein levels with supplementation of limiting amino acid on growth performance, and carcass characteristics in one of the Indian improved crossbred Swarnadhara chicks in a completely randomized design having five treatments and four replications of 20 birds in each. Five isocaloric (2800 ME Kcal//kg) experimental diets based on corn-soy bean meal were formulated in a gradual crude protein decline from 21 % (control T1) to 19% by 0.5% interval. The levels of limiting amino acids namely methionine, lysine, threonine and tryptophan were met as that of control (T1) by adding synthetic preparations. Highest body weight was recorded in 2% crude protein reduced group (T5) which was comparable with control (T1). However, cumulative feed intake and feed conversion ratio of different treatments were not significantly different. Moreover, carcass parameters like dressing percentage, breast meat yield, liver and heart weights remained unaffected by the dietary treatments. Relative gizzard weight and abdominal fat weights showed variations and lower dietary protein diets were comparable with control diet (T1). In summary, crude protein content of Swarnadhara chick diet can be reduced to 19% with essential AA fortification without any adverse effect on growth performance and carcass characteristics during 0-6 weeks of age.

A study was carried out to evaluate the effects of low crude protein diets supplemented with limiting amino acids on progeny chick quality and growth performance utilizing Swarnadhara laying hens. The feeding trial was done in 240 Swarnadhara layers from 29 to 40 weeks in a completely randomized design in five treatment groups with six replications of eight birds. The first treatment consisted of control diet (T1) based on corn soybean meal formulated at 16% CP and 2700 kcal ME meeting the ICAR (2013) requirements for CP and ME and also for the first four limiting amino acids at the following concentrations: methionine 0.35%, lysine 0.75%, threonine 0.52%, and tryptophan 0.16%. The other treatment diets (T2 to T5) were made isocaloric with control while reducing CP content to 15.5, 15, 14.5, and 14%, respectively, incorporating synthetic amino acids in sufficient quantities to match control amino acid levels. Chick quality was evaluated by grading chicks for appearance, activity and down conditions replicate-wise and individual chick hatch weights were recorded in 5 different breeder diet groups. The chicks in all the replicates were fed with the same basal diet containing 21% CP and 2800 kcal/kg ME as per ICAR (2013) requirements during first six weeks of age. The data on chick quality, body weight, feed consumption and feed efficiency showed no significant difference. Hence it can be concluded that the crude protein content of the Swarnadhara breeder diet could be reduced to 14% with essential amino acid supplementation without affecting the progeny performance.

An experiment was conducted to study the effect of reduced dietary crude protein (CP) diet supplemented with limiting amino acids on growth performance and carcass traits of Gramasree male birds up to eight weeks of age. A total of 280 day-old chicks were allotted randomly under five dietary treatments each with four replicates of 14 chicks under completely randomized design. The different dietary treatments viz., control diet (T1) was formulated as per ICAR (2013) nutrient requirements for Indian improved native birds with 21 per cent CP and 2800 kcal/kg Metabolizable energy (ME) using corn, soya bean meal, wheat bran and de-oiled rice bran. Treatment diets T2, T3, T4 and T5 were formulated by reducing CP content to 20, 19, 18, and 17 per cent, respectively with isocaloric value of 2800 kcal/kg ME and supplemented with methionine, lysine, threonine and tryptophan to meet the daily requirements. Weekly body weight and feed consumption were recorded. For the carcass study, two birds from each replicate were randomly selected and slaughtered humanely at eighth week of age. The results showed that the final body weight and cumulative weight gain were comparable among the treatments. The lowest cumulative feed intake and feed conversion ratio (FCR) were observed in 17 per cent CP containing treatment (T5), which was not significantly different from rest of the groups. The mean per cent breast meat yield, giblet yield, dressing yield and ready-to-cook yield were comparable among the five dietary treatments. The mean abdominal fat content in birds fed with 18 and 17 per cent (T4 and T5) were significantly (p<0.05) higher than the other treatment groups.The overall results indicated that the dietary CP of Gramasree male chicks can be lowered up to 17 per cent with the supplementation of methionine, lysine, threonine and tryptophan without affecting the growth performance of birds.

A study was conducted in Swarnadhara (SD) layers to find out the effect of reducing crude protein (CP) with supplementation of limiting amino acids to compensate the deficiency of CP. Egg weight and reproductive parameters such as fertility, hatchability, number of saleable chicks and day one old chick weight were studied in 240 SD layers in a completely randomized design in 5 treatments with 6 replications of 8 birds in each. The control diet (T1) was based on corn soy bean meal formulated with 16% CP and 2700 Kcal ME following the ICAR (2013) specifications recommended for improved native chicken breeds. The diets T2 to T5 were made isocaloric to control and composed with 15.5, 15.0, 14.5 and 14.0% CP, respectively. The levels of limiting amino acids namely methionine, lysine, threonine and tryptophan were met as that of control by adding synthetic preparation wherever necessary. Egg weight showed similar effects in all treatments at 32, 36 and 40 weeks of age. Reproductive parameters were recorded in four consecutive hatches and were statistically analyzed. Results showed similar performances in T1, T2, T3 and T5, but were different in T4 in terms of fertility, hatchability and number of saleable chicks. There was no significant difference in progeny chick weight among different treatment groups indicating amino acid supplementation supported equal performance in low CP diets in all the reproductive parameters.

A study was conducted in Swarnadhara chicks to find out the effect of reducing dietary control and composed with 20.5, 20, 19.5 and 19% CP, respectively