ENERGY AND NITROGEN-METABOLISM AND OXYGEN USE BY BROILERS SUSCEPTIBLE TO ASCITES AND GROWN AT 3 ENVIRONMENTAL TEMPERATURES

1. An experiment using respiration calorimetry was performed to examine the energy and nitrogen metabolism of 2 strains of male broilers grown at 3 environmental temperatures; the results were then related to the susceptibility of the strains to the ascites syndrome. 2. Broilers selected for food conversion efficiency were less responsive to environmental temperature than were broilers selected principally for increased weight gain. 3. The susceptibility to ascites of broilers selected for food conversion efficiency may be the result not of a genetic incapacity to use oxygen but of the ability of the bird to maintain growth rate in adverse thermal environments.