estimation of arginine requirements for male broilers grown at high altitude from one to twenty-one days of age

arginine (arg) requirements of male broilers (ross 308) reared at high altitude (2100 mabove sea level) during the 1-to 3-week period was estimated in a graded supplementationmethod, in which six diets (230 g kg-1 cp and 3200 kcal me kg-1) with arg increments of1.25 g kg-1 were applied to four pens of fifteen birds each. dietary arg content of theexperimental groups ranged from 10 g kg-1 (80% of the nrc recommendation) to 16.25 gkg-1 (130% of the nrc recommendation). body weight gain, feed: gain ratio, and plasmanitric oxide (no) concentration were determined as response criteria. argininerequirements for maximal body weight gain and optimal feed: gain during the 21 daysunder study were estimated to be 15.3, and 15.1 g kg-1 of diet, respectively. the estimatedarg requirement based on the response in plasma no was 15.6 g kg-1. in conclusion,broilers receiving dietary arg of 15 g kg-1 had the best performance. data obtained forthe individual factors are by far the highest values reported for arg requirements.