DIETARY LYSINE AND ASCITES INCIDENCE

Two trials were conducted with male broilers to determine the effect o f dietary lysine on deaths due to ascites. Starter diets contained 1.1 3, 1.20, 1.28, and 1.35% dietary lysine; grower diets contained 1.02, 1.09, 1.16, and 1.23% lysine. Neither deaths due to ascites nor total deaths were affected by treatment in Trial 1. A significant effect of treatment on deaths due to ascites was observed in Trial 2, but deaths for the highest lysine level were not different from the lowest lysin e level. Heart weight and ventricle weights were not affected by treat ment. These results suggest that ascites is not attributable to dietar y lysine levels in commercial diets.