Effects of dietary protein source and level on intestinal populations of Clostridium perfringens in broiler chickens. Poult. Sci

ABSTRACT Two experiments were conducted to ex-amine the effect of the level of dietary crude protein and protein source on intestinal populations of Clostridium perfringens in broilers. In experiment 1, 6 groups of 12 birds were fed diets containing 230, 315 or 400 g/kg crude protein with soy protein concentrate (SPC) or low-tem-perature-dried fishmeal as the major protein sources in a 2 × 3 factorial arrangement of treatments. A significant interaction between protein source and level was ob-served where the number of C. perfringens present in the ileum and cecum increased as the level of crude protein in the diets increased from 230 to 400 g/kg in the birds fed fishmeal-based diets (P < 0.05) but not in the birds fe