Diet and experimental fowl typhoid: Further observations on the influence of origin of dietary protein on mortality

Abstract

Chicks were fed with diets which each contained a single high protein feed with wheat meal and appropriate supplements. They were inoculated with Salmonella gallinarum. Meat meal consistently gave the highest survival rate; dried separated milk gave slightly lower survival rates than meat; the remaining protein sources—groundnut, soyabean, cottonseed, sunflower, yeast, liver and fish—gave lower survival rates than meat or separated milk powder. Meat meals prepared from individual species—cattle, sheep, pig and poultry—gave high survival rates, although meals from cattle and sheep gave greater survival rates than those from pigs or poultry. Sprat meal gave a similar survival rate to white fish meal while meals prepared from fillets of cod or haddock gave lower survival rates than commercial fish meal; the survival rate with whale meat meal diet was similar to that of commercial fish meal. The survival of inoculated chicks given broiler type diets containing a high level of either fish and soyabean meal or meat meal and dried separated milk reflected results obtained with these high protein feeds when used separately. The results of the experiments seem to suggest that of the feeding stuffs used, some, such as fish meal, may contain substances that increase susceptibility of the birds to S. gallinarum whereas others such as meat meal, may contain substances that increase resistance to this organism.