Leucine, isoleucine and valine requirements of immature beagle dogs.

Three experiments were conducted with growing beagle dogs fed crystalline L-amino acid diets, to determine the requirement for each of the branched-chain amino acids: leucine, isoleucine and valine. Requirements were taken as the minimum dietary concentrations required for optimal growth, feed efficiency and nitrogen retention. For each amino acid, the requirements estimated from each of these criteria were similar. Ten- to 12-week-old male beagle dogs were found to require 0.65% leucine, 0.40% isoleucine and 0.43% valine. These values correspond to 159 mg leucine, 98 mg isoleucine and 105 mg valine per 100 kcal dietary metabolizable energy. These branched-chain amino acid requirements of the growing dog are lower than those of weanling rats or pigs.