LACK OF AN EFFECT OF TAURINE SUPPLEMENTATION ON THE INCIDENCE OF SUDDEN-DEATH SYNDROME IN MALE BROILER CHICKS

Two experiments were conducted to study the effect of taurine supplementation on growth and the incidence of Sudden Death Syndrome (SDS) in male broiler chickens. The 4,650 birds were day-old male broiler chickens raised in floor pens to 9 wk of age. In Experiment 1, the birds received diets containing 0,250, 500, or 1,000 mg taurine/kg. In Experiment 2, the treatments were no added taurine, 500 mg taurine/kg feed, 1,000 mg taurine/kg feed, 250 mg taurine/L water. Taurine supplementation did not have any significant influence on growth performance although supplementation of the feed at 250 mg/kg reduced the feed:gain ratio from 1.67 to 1.63 in Experiment 1, which was significant (P < .05). In general, mortality was unaffected by treatment with a few exceptions: in Experiment 2, SDS deaths were reduced significantly (P < .01) by supplementation of the feed with 500 mg taurine/kg, and at 3 and 6 wk of age, SDS deaths as a percentage of total deaths were reduced significantly with this treatment. The results are interpreted as suggesting that taurine does not play a major role in the etiology of SDS.