Standardization of methods for the determination of ileal amino acid digestibilities in growing pigs

Based on current recommendations of the CVB (1996) in the Netherlands and the GfE (2002, 2005) in Germany, a standardization of methods for the determination of ileal amino acid digestibilities in growing pigs is proposed. Differences and similarities between these protocols in terms of (i) animals, housing and feeding conditions (ii), methods for digesta collection and handling, and (iii) approaches to determine ileal amino acid digestibilities are described.