Table 5. The influence of nutrient densities and starch to lipid ratios on nutrient utilisations in broiler chickens from 24–26 days post-hatch.

	Nutrient	Starch:lipid	AME1	AME:GE	AMEn	N retention	Excreta moisture	Water intake (ml per day per bird)
Treatment	density	ratios	(MJ/kg)		(MJ/kg)	(%)	(%)
1	Low	14	13.59e	0.741f	12.57ef	71.9	67.0	379
2	Low	12	13.67e	0.740f	12.73ef	69.5	67.4	378
3	Low	7	13.69e	0.724f	12.82e	65.9	67.5	395
4	Low	4	13.11e	0.687g	12.28f	68.0	61.8	360
5	Medium	14	14.62bcd	0.777de	13.63cd	71.8	63.8	330
6	Medium	12	16.44a	0.850a	14.99a	72.3	70.6	352
7	Medium	7	14.48cd	0.755ef	13.65cd	69.3	64.6	324
8	Medium	4	15.13b	0.749ef	14.30b	68.6	66.6	355
9	High	14	14.33d	0.777de	13.45d	70.8	65.1	314
10	High	12	14.93bc	0.830ab	14.02bc	72.2	65.7	292
11	High	7	16.03a	0.813bc	15.07a	72.2	70.2	349
12	High	4	15.85a	0.792cd	14.97a	68.0	66.6	336
		SEM	0.132	0.0110	0.131	1.38	1.84	21.5
Main effect: Nutrient density
Low			13.52	0.723	12.60	68.8	65.9	378a
Medium			15.17	0.783	14.14	70.5	66.4	340b
High			15.28	0.803	14.42	70.8	66.9	323b
Starch:lipid ratios
14			14.18	0.765	13.22	71.5a	65.3	341
12			15.01	0.806	13.91	71.3ab	67.9	341
7			14.73	0.764	13.85	69.2bc	67.4	356
4			14.70	0.742	13.85	68.2c	65.0	350
P-value
Nutrient density			<0.0001	<0.0001	<0.0001	0.081	0.737	0.004
Starch:lipid ratio			<0.001	<0.0001	<0.0001	0.012	0.152	0.777
Interactions			<0.0001	0.002	<0.0001	0.144	0.065	0.468

^abcdefg Means within a column not sharing common superscripts are significantly different

¹AME, apparent metabolisable energy; AME:GE, ratio of AME and GE in the diets; AMEn, nitrogen corrected AME