Eimeria acervulina Infection in the Chicken: Sulfur Amino Acid Requirement of the Chick During Acute Coccidiosis

Abstract

Five assays were conducted to determine whether Eimeria acervulina infection would alter the chick's sulfur amino acid (SAA) requirement. Chicks were housed in heated starter batteries with raised wire floors and fed completely purified crystalline amino acid diets.With light to moderate E. acervulina infection, data were somewhat inconclusive. In Assay 1, infected birds responded to levels of SAA above those required by healthy birds; but in two subsequent assays, no difference in SAA requirements due to infection could be detected. Therefore, two additional assays were conducted in birds inoculated with a heavy dose of E. acervulina oocysts. In neither of these assays did E. acervulina infection show any indication of altering SAA utilization. When data from the five studies are viewed together, it is clear that E. acervulina infection did not increase the chick's SAA requirement.