Growth, not digestibility, in chickens receiving reduced-protein diets is independent of non-specific amino-nitrogen sources when the essential-to-total-nitrogen ratio is constant and lower than 50%.

A 21 d experiment was conducted to investigate whether growth performance and coefficients of amino acids digestibility (cAID) in broilers receiving reduced-protein diets supplemented with different non-essential amino acids (NEAA) were dependent on supplemented NEAA in diets with the same essential-to-total N (eN-to-tN) ratio kept at < 50%.The experiment used 240 male broiler chicks, allocated to eight treatments with six pen replicates per treatment, and five chicks per replicate. The diets were either adequate in protein diet (PC), reduced protein (NC) diet or the NC diet supplemented with Gly, Gln, Ser, Ala, Gly + Ser or Ala + Ser. Digesta from the distal half of the ileum were collected on d 21. Tissue samples were collected for analysis for gene expression of protein synthesis and degradation ( pectoralis major and liver) and peptide and AA transporter (jejunum).The treatments had no effects on growth performance. Generally, cAID was greater ( P  < 0.05) in NC compared to the PC diet. Individual supplementation of the NC diet with Gly, Gln, Ser, Ala or Ala+Ser increased ( P  < 0.01) cAID of Cys compared to the PC diet. There were no treatment effects on mRNA levels for the AA or peptide transporters in the jejunum. Supplementation of the NC diet with Gln, Ser, Ala, or Gly + Ser produced an upward expression ( P  < 0.05) of S6 kinase in the liver compared to PC and NC. In addition, there was greater ( P  < 0.05) expression of TRIM36 in the Pectoralis major of broiler chickens receiving the NC diet supplemented with Gly.When reduced-protein diets have an eN-to-tN ratio of < 50% and the ratio is kept constant in all the diets, growth performance response was independent of the source of non-specific amino-N, but the treatments may influence ileal digestibility of specific AA.