Basal Metabolism of Chicks as Affected by Antibiotics

Basal Metabolism of Chicks as Affected by Antibiotics W. D. MORRISON, T. S. HAMILTON AND H. M. SCOTT Illinois Agricultural Experiment Station, Vrbana (Received for publication April 7, 1954)

B

EXPERIMENTAL

Male chicks originating from a mating of New Hampshire males X Columbian females were used in both experiment 1 and experiment 2. For the first week following hatching the chicks were fed the basal diet shown in Table 1. Supplementing this ration with aureomycin has consistently improved chick growth when fed ad libitum (Scott et al., 1952a). At one TABLE 1.—Composition of basal ration Ground yellow corn Soybean meal (50% protein) Di-calcium phosphate Limestone Iodized salt A and D oil (3,000A-600D) Manganese sulfate (feed grade) Alfalfa meal (Sample K) DL-methionine Riboflavin 0.2 gm. Ca-pantothenate 0.3 gm. Choline CI 30,0 gm. Niacin 1.0 gm. Bi2 0.4 mg. Total

54.05 38.50 3.00 1.00 .50 .30 .05 2.50 .10

+ + + + +

100.00 lbs.

week the chicks were paired according to the rate of gain for the first week made by chicks of equal hatching weights. The chicks were then placed in individual cages in an electrically heated battery. The battery was situated in an air conditioned room which was held at a temperature of 77 degrees F. and a relative humidity of 48 percent. In experiment 1, twelve pairs of chicks were started on experiment but only ten pairs were included in the determinations due to the development of perosis in two pairs. One member of each pair (Column A, Table 2) received the basal ration and its pair-mate (Column B, Table 2) received the basal ration plus 15 mg. aureomycin per kg. of diet. The birds were pairfed, thus the members of each pair consumed the same amount of feed. No attempt was made to keep the feed intake equal between pairs. After the birds had been on the experimental diets for a minimum of 24 days, determinations of basal metabolisms were begun. The technique used for this purpose was the Haldane gravimetric method (Haldane, 1892). The birds were fasted for 24 hours prior to the basal metabolism determinations. Each bird was kept in the metabolism chamber for exactly six hours. Statistical analysis was carried out on all data. Student's method for paired data was employed and the " t " values are given in the respective tables. Subsequent to the first, a second experiment was begun. This second experiment was deemed advisable inasmuch as antibiotics have been shown to produce the greatest response in the very young chick (Synder et al., 1953) and for this reason 78

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RAUDE and Johnson (1953) noted that the addition of an antibiotic to a diet being fed to pigs caused an increase in the ouptput of urine which was not accompanied by a corresponding increase in water consumption. They postulated that an increase in urine production, without water intake having been increased, could conceivably have resulted from the antibiotic having lowered the basal metabolism. Robinson et al. (1953) reported a reduction in water intake when pigs received procaine penicillin. The work reported here was undertaken to determine whether or not antibiotics would influence the basal metabolism of young chicks.

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BASAL METABOLISM OF CHICKS F E D ANTIBIOTICS TABLE 2.—Basal metabolism—Experiment 1 Heat production/24 hr. (cals.) Pair

Av. wt. (gm.) 1 A

4

R.Q. 2

0 2 / 6 hr. (liters)

Wt. .:i3

Absolute

B

A

B

A

B

A

B

A

B

360 343 364 380 391 414 357 431 407 315

357 394 396 375 422 449 351 417 410 318

2.51 2.64 2.71 2.73 3.09 2.85 2.48 2.86 2.78 2.66

2.50 2.89 3.12 2.84 3.10 3.07 2.41 2.78 2.95 2.68

.69 .72 .68 .71 .69 .70 .70 .70 .70 .71

.70 .72 .70 .72 .70 .70 .70 .69 .69 .70

47.08 49.65 50.74 51.21 57.95 53.42 46.50 53.60 52.09 49.86

46.95 54.24 58.53 53.25 58.12 57.48 45.14 52.18 55.33 50.23

.570 .623 .609 .595 .659 .582 .566 .566 .575 .667

.572 .613 .659 .625 .624 .590 .557 .566 .607 .667

Av.

376

3896

2.73

2.83

.70

.70

51.21

53.14

.601

.608"

1

At time of basal metabolism determination. A respiratory quotient below .70 was considered as .70 and the factor of 4.686 calories/liter of oxygen consumed was used in such cases. a Expressed as the heat production for 24 hours divided by body weight to the f power. 4 Column A refers to basal diet, column B refers to basal diet plus aureomycin. 6 / = 1.800; at 5 % level <=2.262. «<=.875; at 5% level t=2.262. 2

the basal metabolisms were determined after the chicks had been on the experimental diets for only 10 days. The procedure was the same as for the first experiment. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The data for experiment 1, recorded in Table 2, indicate that aureomycin had no apparent effect on basal metabolism. The unit used here is the heat production for 24 hours divided by the body weight raised to the f power. A similar picture is given when the formula (Acm 2 =8.10 W gm.-705) proposed by Mitchell (1930) for determination of the surface area of the chicken, is used and related to the heat production. If Mitchell's formula is used the units are, of course, of different value but are, relatively, the same. It is also of interest to note that the use of oxygen consumption data rather than heat production, as suggested by Mellen and Hill (1953), did not give a materially different picture. Similar results were obtained in Experiment 2. It is obvious from the data in

Table 3 that basal metabolism was unaffected by the presence of aureomycin in the feed. The heat production was higher when related to weight raised to the f power than was the case in the first experiment. This is to be expected inasmuch as the basal metabolism is greater, relatively speaking, in the younger animal. The occurrence of R.Q. values below .70, Tables 2 and 3, is not entirely unexpected. Smith and Riddle (1944) reported values as low as .63 in pigeons and had, as well, considerable variation between R.Q. values determined on the same pigeon at different times. The lack of growth response of the birds to the antibiotic, Tables 2 and 3, is not surprising. Scott and Glista (1950) and Scott et al. (1952b) have shown that one mode of action of antibiotics is to increase feed consumption. Similarly, Slinger et al. (1954) were unable to show a growth response due to antibiotics when feed intake was equated. Robinson et al. (1952) working with pigs have shown that restricting feed intake on the basis of live weight gains, appreciably reduced the

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W. D . M O R R I S O N , T. S. H A M I L T O N AND H. M. SCOTT TABLE 3.—Basal metabolism—Experiment 2 Heat production/24 hr. (cals.)

Pair

Av. wt. (gm.)

1

0 2 /6 hr. (liters)

R.Q.

2

Wt. .753

Absolute

B

A

B

A

B

A

B

A

B

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

186 214 233 174 166 197 185 180 192 207 218 207

192 208 234 180 190 183 193 185 184 217 209 213

1.71 2.32 2.24 1.96 1.68 1.67 1.60 2.08 2.15 2.15 1.82 1.67

1.66 1.84 2.41 2.08 1.82 1.75 1.54 1.86 2.11 2.22 1.74 1.85

.69 .70 .71 .69 .69 .71 .69 .69 .70 .70 .71 .69

.69 .70 .70 .70 .70 .71 .69 .70 .68 .69 .70 .70

32.12 43.55 39.59 36.79 31.56 31.32 29.89 38.94 40.35 40.29 34.12 31.37

31.21 34.57 45.11 39.00 34.06 32.79 28.88 34.93 39.52 41.68 32.70 34.60

.638 .778 .664 .768 .681 .596 .596 .792 .782 .738 .601 .575

.605 .631 .754 .794 .666 .659 .558 .696 .791 .737 .595 .621

Av.

197

199

1.92

1.91

.70

.70

35.82

35.75

.684«

.676

1 2

At time of basal metabolism determination. A respiratory quotient below .70 was considered as .70 and the factor of 4.686 calories/liter of oxygen consumed, was used in such cases. 3 Expressed as the heat production for 24 hours divided by body weight to the | power. 4 Column A refers to basal diet, column B refers to basal diet plus aureomycin. « ;=.447; at 5% level t=2.201. response to penicillin. I n this experiment each chick received the same amount of feed as its mate so t h a t there was no chance for increased feed consumption and therefore, on the basis of the work mentioned above, little or no antibiotic response would be expected. However, if the antibiotic elicits a depressing effect on basal metabolism it should have expressed itself in t h a t manner here. I t appears, therefore, t h a t of all the postulated means by which antibiotics are said to produce a growth response, this one at least does not appear to be valid. T h e possibility still exists, however, t h a t the heat increment of the food or the activity increment of the animal may be reduced when an antibiotic is included in the diet. If this were true it could explain the slightly more efficient feed utilization of those chicks receiving penicillin in the diet, as reported b y Slinger et al. (1954). In both of the experiments the water consumption of each chick was recorded. While there was some indication in one

experiment t h a t the antibiotic decreased water consumption this was not the case in the second experiment. No definite conclusions can be drawn on this phase of the experiments. SUMMARY Aureomycin included in a natural-type diet at a level of 15 mg./kg. of diet had no apparent effect on the basal metabolism of chicks. REFERENCES Braude, R., and B. C. Johnson, 1953. Effect of aureomycin on nitrogen and water metabolism in growing pigs. J. Nutrition, 49: 505-512. Haldane, J., 1892. A new form of apparatus for measuring the respiratory exchange of animals. J.Physiol. 13:419-430. Mellen, W. J., and E. W. Hill, 1953. Effects of thiouracil, thyroprotein and estrogen upon the basal metabolism and thyroid size of growing chickens. Poultry Sci., 32:994-1001. Mitchell, H. H., 1930. The surface area of Single Comb White Leghorn chickens. J. Nutrition, 2: 443-449. Robinson, K. L., W. E. Coey and G. S. Burnett,

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GOSSYPOL AND EGG DISCOLORATION 1952. Influence of the scale of feeding on the response of pigs to procaine penicillin. Chemistry and Industry, 562. Robinson, K. L., W. E. Coey and G. S. Burnett, 1953. The influence of procaine penicillin on the efficiency of food utilization by pigs. Chemistry and Industry, 18-19. Scott, H. M., and W. A. Glista, 1950. The effect of aureomycin and arsonic acid on chick growth. Poultry Sci. 29: 921-923. Scott, H. M., B. C. Johnson and E. A. Goffi, 1952a. Effect of surface active agents on chick growth. Poultry Sci. 31:746-747. Scott, H. M., E. A. Goffi and W. A. Glista, 1952b.

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The protein requirement of the chick as influenced by aureomycin. Poultry Sci. 31: 751-752. Slinger, S. J., M. M. Hauser and W. F. Pepper, 1954. The correlation between feed consumption and fecal flora in chicks. J. Nutrition, 52: 75-88. Smith, G. C , and 0 . Riddle, 1944. Effects of fasting on respiratory metabolism of normal and hypophysectomized young pigeons. Am. J. Physiol., 141:303-311. Snyder, J. M., B. C. Johnson and H. M. Scott, 1952. Surface active agents and the time of their effect on chick growth with special reference to vitamin B12 and aureomycin interrelationships. Poultry Sci. 32:527-531.

BURT W. HEYWANG, H. R. BIRD 1 AND A. M. ALTSCHTJL Agricultural Research Service, V'. S. Department of Agriculture, Animal and Poultry Husbandry Research Branch, Glendale, Arizona, and Beltsville, Maryland, and Southern Utilization Research Branch, New Orleans, Louisiana (Received for publication April 8, 1954)

T

HERE is ample experimental evidence that two different components of cottonseed cause discolorations in egg yolks. One, whose identity is not known, causes "pink" albumen as well as "reddish-brown" or "orange" yolks. The other causes discolorations commonly called "olive-green." The appearance of olive-colored yolks in eggs laid by chickens fed cottonseed meal was apparently first reported by Lamon and Lee (1917), and the responsible substance first identified as gossypol by Schaible, Moore and Moore (1934). The observations of Swenson, Fieger and Upp (1942) and of Heywang, Denton and Bird (1949) show that yolk discolorations attributable to gossypol may range from olive-green or light chocolate brown to nearly black.

1 Present address: Department of Poultry Husbandry, University of Wisconsin.

The portion of the gossypol extractable by aqueous acetone is defined as freegossypol (American Oil Chemists' Society, 1952). All the gossypol in meals can be recovered by use of the acid treatment prior to extraction with aqueous acetone. The difference in value for free-gossypol and total gossypol has been called boundgossypol (Pons and co-workers, 1950). Since these definitions are based on analytical operations, they do not purport to present any information about the chemical state of gossypol in the meal. Nearly all the gossypol in raw cottonseed is extractable as free-gossypol. In most cottonseed meals most of the gossypol is found as bound-gossypol. The paper of Heywang, Denton and Bird (1949) seemed to be the only published report indicating the relationship between the quantity of gossypol in the diet of laying chickens and discolorations in the yolks of their eggs. In their experi-

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Relationship Between Discolorations in Eggs and DietaryFree Gossypol Supplied by Different Cottonseed Products