Aiming at determining levels of digestible sulfurous amino acids to establish the ideal methionine + cystine/lysine relationship in rations for light-weight laying hens in the period from 42 to 58 weeks of age, 216 birds of the commercial brand Hy- Line W36 were distributed in a randomized block design with 6 diets, 6 repetitions and 6 birds per experimental unit. The level of digestible lysine used in the experimental diet was 0.770% for an expected average consumption of 731 mg/hen/day of lysine and 95 g/hen/day of ration. Levels of digestible sulfurous amino acids were obtained from a basal diet deficient in digestible methionine + cystine (0.65%), supplemented with 0.00; 0.05, 0.10, 0.15, 0.20 and 0.25% of DL-methionine (99.2%), so to provide a methionine + cystine/lysine relationship of 84, 91, 97, 104, 110 and 117%. The experimental period lasted for 16 weeks and it was subdivided in 4 cycles of egg collection, each one corresponding to 28 days. There was a quadratic effect of the digestible methionine + cistine levels of 0.826% and 0.775% on the egg production and lysine utilization efficiency for total egg production, respectively. The digestible methionine + cystine level considered as a requirement for light-weight laying hens in the period from 42 to 58 weeks of age were 0.775%, corresponding to digestible methionine + cystine consumption of 708 mg/hen/day, and a methionine + cystine/lysine relationship of 101%.
essential amino acids; hens; ideal protein; nutritional requirements
