This experiment was carried out to evaluate the effects of levels of methionine and lysine on performance and on the internal and external egg quality of commercial laying hens. It was used 256 Hisex White laying hens at 68 weeks of age, which were individually housed in a complete random design in a 4 õ 4 factorial scheme with four levels of lysine (0.482, 0.682, 0.882, and 1.082%) and of methionine (0.225, 0.318, 0.411, and 0.505%) totaling sixteen diets with four replicates with four birds each. Performance was evaluated through the following characteristics: feed intake, consumption of lysine, methionine, crude protein and energy, weight, production and mass of eggs and feed conversion. Internal quality of eggs was evaluated through the characteristics of weight and yolk percentage and by Haugh unit. Birds showed maximal egg production when fed rations with 0.444% of total methionine and 0.872% total lysine. Rating of eggs by their types and internal and external quality of eggs were not influenced by levels of methionine and lysine in the diet.
amino acids; egg; hens; nutritional requirements
