Protein Levels and Survival Time of Chicks Infected with Salmonella gallinarum

Abstract

Increasing the protein level of diets from 10% to 20% to 30% resulted in a progressively increased rate of mortality of chicks from Salmonella gallinarum infection. The rate of mortality was not affected by the energy content of the diet. The acceleration of mortality was evident whether the protein was supplied by soybean meal or casein. Since the acceleration was noted when the organism was given either orally or intramuscularly, it was concluded that the effect of the increased protein level did not depend on a meeting of pathogen and diet in the intestinal tract. While total mortality was generally increased with increasing protein levels, the differences were not statistically significant in most of the comparisons.