An experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of arginine on feed intake regulation. One hundred and twenty six 1-day-old male White Pekin ducks (Anas platyrhynchos domestica) were randomly were allotted to one of two dietary treatments. The birds were fed diets containing 0.71% (deficient) or 1.27% (sufficient) arginine for 3 weeks. At 21 days of age, feed intake was determined and hypothalamic protein profiles were analyzed using isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantification technique. The birds fed with arginine-deficient diet had a lower final live BW and cumulative feed intake (P1.5-fold expressional changes between arginine-deficient and -sufficient dietary treatments. Nine of these proteins were upregulated and seven of them were downregulated. The identified proteins could be regrouped into six categories: protein processing, carbohydrate metabolism and energy production, transporter, cytoskeleton, immunity and neuronal development. Dietary arginine deficiency decreased expression of proteins involved in energy production (glycine amidinotransferase, aldolase B fructose-bisphosphate, aconitase, transaldolase, 6-phosphofructokinase type C-like) and oxygen transportation (haemoglobin subunit α expression). The proteomic alterations described here provides valuable insights into the interactions of arginine with appetite.