An experiment was conducted to determine melamine residual levels in the tissues of broiler chickens fed diets containing graded levels of melamine. Ten experimental diets were developed to contain 0, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, 500, and 1,000 mg of melamine/kg of diet. Each diet was offered in 4 replicate cages (12 birds per cage) from d 1 to 42, followed by a 7-d feeding of a withdrawal diet that contained no melamine. On d 28, 42, and 49, one bird per replicate was killed and tissue samples from the breast meat, liver, and kidney were collected for the determination of residual melamine levels. Throughout the 42-d feeding period, feeding diets containing graded levels of melamine had no effect (P>0.05) on the weight gain, feed intake, feed conversion ratio, and mortality of broiler chickens. Residue levels of melamine in broiler tissues at d 28 and 42 were below the detection limit when the diets contained<or=50 mg/kg of melamine. At d 28, tissue melamine levels increased (P<0.05) with the increasing levels of melamine in birds fed diets containing higher than 100 mg/kg. At d 42, a similar trend was observed in the kidney, but melamine was detected in breast meat and liver only in birds fed diets containing 500 and 1,000 mg of melamine/kg of diet. Melamine distribution varied (P<0.05) in different tissues, with the highest concentration in the kidney. A withdrawal period of 7 d was found to clear the tissues of melamine.