Effects of Dietary Protein and Energy on Growth Performance and Muscle Composition in Broilers Treated with Clenbuterol

The present study was conducted to examine the effects of dietary protein (20, 22, 24%) with a constant protein-to-energy ratio on clenbuterol-induced performance in broilers. The protein-to-energy ratio was based on adequate level (22% protein, 3,100 kcal of energy). Female broiler chickens were used for a $3{\times}2$ factorial arrangement and fed diets with or without 1 ppm clenbuterol from 14- to 32-days of age. Feed efficiency improved with increasing dietary protein level, regardless of clenbuterol treatment. The dietary clenbuterol increased weights of breast and leg muscles (gastrocnemius and peroneus longus), and clenbuterol markedly reduced protein content of leg muscles in chickens fed the 20% protein diet, but did not in chickens fed the 22 and 24% protein diets. Feeding the 24% protein diet with clenbuterol improved the protien accretion (peroneus longus) by 8.4%. Clenbuterol decreased DNA content and increased the protein/DNA ratio in breast muscle regardless of dietary protein intake. Clenbuterol had no effect on RNA content in both breast and leg muscles. The present results demonstrated that various protein levels which retain the same protein-to-energy ratio in the diet markedly alter the protein accretion induced by ${\beta}$-agonist in broilers.