The Water Requirements of Broilers1

WET LITTER in poultry houses is a problem of considerable economic and pathological importance. Charles et al. (1942) reported that water can become a problem in poultry litter management. Eley and Hoffman (1949) suggested that the level of dietary protein may affect the amount of moisture in the droppings which should in turn directly affect the moisture content of the litter. James and Wheeler (1949) and Wheeler and James (1950) showed the amount of water consumed as well as the amount of droppings produced varied almost directly with the percent of protein in the diet. The direct association of the dietary protein content and the amount of water consumed are probably related to the well known fact that greater amounts of water are required for the metabolism of pro-tein than for carbohydrates or fats. A par-tial explanation for the relationship of pro-tein content of the diet to the amount of droppings produced may be that some of the extra weight of the droppings is due to increased elimination of nitrogen as uric acid. Since the fowl is incapable of break-ing down uric acid into urea, an appreci-able amount of water consumed is, there-"This manuscript is published with the permis-sion of the Director of the West Virginia Univer