- Email: [email protected]
Effect of Different Diets and Unidentified Factor Supplements on Reproduction in Chickens and Early Chick Growth1
312
P. M. NEWBERNE AND W. B. BUCK
REFERENCES Cuckler, A. C , C. M. Maianga, A. J. Basso and P. C. O'Neill, 1955. Antiparasitic activity of some molecular complexes of substituted carbanilides. Science, 122: 244-245. Cuckler, A. C , C. M. Maianga and W. H. Ott,
1956. The antiparasitic activity of Nicarbazin. Poultry Sci. 35: 98-109. Garren, H. W., and C. W. Barger, 1955. Endocrine and lymphatic gland changes occurring in young chickens with fowl typhoid. 34: 1250-1258. Goff, S., W. C. Russell and M. W. Taylor, 1953. Hematology of the chick in vitamin deficiencies. 1. Riboflavin. Poultry Sci. 32: 54-60. Kracke, R. R., 1938. Relation of drug therapy to neutropenic states. J. Am. Med. Assoc. I l l : 1255-1259. Lance, B. G., and A. G. Hogan, 1948. Inositol and nicotinic acid in the nutrition of the turkey. J. Nutrition, 36: 369. Moore, R. A., 1952. A Textbook of Pathology. 2nd Ed. W. B. Saunders Company, Philadelphia, Pa., p. 829. Porter, C. C , and J. L. Gilfillan, 1955. The absorption and excretion of orally administered Nicarbazin by chickens. Poultry Sci. 34: 995-1001. Seyle, H., 1950. Stress. Acta, Inc., Montreal, Canada.
Effect of Different Diets and Unidentified Factor Supplements on Reproduction in Chickens and Early Chick Growth 1 LEO S. JENSEN AND JAMES MCGINNIS Department of Poultry Science, State College of Washington, Pullman, Washington (Received for publication September 10, 1956)
the isolation of vitamin B12, SINCE many investigators have studied the need of the fowl for unidentified nutritional factors. Numerous reports have shown that the addition of various ingredients to different basal diets resulted in increased growth in chicks and poults which was apparently not explainable on the basis of known nutritional factors. On the other hand, relatively few reports have shown that the addition of such ingredients to rations for breeding hens has in1
Scientific Paper No. 1522, Washington Agricultural Experiment Station, Pullman. Project 1247. This investigation was supported in part by funds provided for biological and medical research by the State of Washington Initiative Measure No. 171.
creased the hatchability of fertile eggs. Couch et al. (1950) reported that liver fraction " L " contained an unidentified factor necessary for maximum hatchability. The Texas station (Dieckert and Couch, 1951) again reported a marked hatchability response when whole liver, various fractions of liver "L," and Difco yeast were added to a purified diet. Stephenson and Clower (1952) obtained evidence that the addition of 3 % fish solubles to an all vegetable diet maintained a higher level of hatchability than the basal diet. Additional evidence for an unidentified hatchability factor in condensed fish solubles was reported by Arscott and Combs (1953). Jacobs et al. (1953) re-
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Florida International University on May 31, 2015
Changes in blood cellular elements included a reduction in heterophils on high levels (0.050% and 0.10%). This was accompanied by a thrombocytosis. Histologically there was degeneration of the liver cells and renal tubular epithelium. Alterations were observed in lymphoid tissues over the body. Ossified nodules were found in the lung tissues. These data indicate a somewhat narrow margin of safety for Nicarbazin.
313
UNIDENTIFIED FACTORS AND REPRODUCTION
The present study was undertaken to compare the effect of semi-purified and practical diets with and without supplements of various unidentified factor materials on reproduction in chickens and early chick growth of progeny. PROCEDURE
Single Comb White Leghorn pullets approximately 7 months old were distributed into 24 pens of 20 pullets each. They were housed in a wire-floor cage type laying house with a 4 ' X 8 ' area available for each group. Three White Leghorn cockerals were placed in each pen. Records were kept on egg production, mortality, average egg weight, fertility, and hatchability. Five consecutive days' egg production for each 28-day period was incubated. These same eggs were also used to obtain average egg weight. /
TABLE 1.—Composition of diets Ingredient
hen diet
hen diet
chick diet
Ground yellow corn Soybean oil meal (44% protein) Dehydrated alfalfa Fish meal, herring ( 7 2 % protein) Sucrose Cellulose (Solkafloc) Ground limestone Steamed bone meal Iodized salt KC1 MgSO* • 7 H 2 0 Choline Chloride (70%) Vitamin Mixture Mineral Mixture
68.2
%
%
%
20.0 5.0
— —
—• —. — 3.0 2.8 0.5
— — — 00.51 —
22.0 67.67 3.0 3.1 1.5 0.4 0.4 0.25 0.125 1.02 0.5'
—
•
— 29.0 64.16 3.0 • — .
1.0 0.4 0.4 0.25 0.29 1.0' 0.5«
1 When added to the diet, the vitamin mixture supplied the following per pound: vitamin A, 1,000 I.U.; vitamin Dg, 375 I.C.U.; riboflavin, 1.85 mg.; vitamin B12, 5 mg.; calcium pantothenate, 4 mg.; and MnSO< (feed grade), 78 mg. 2 When added to the diet, the vitamin mixture supplied the following per pound: niacin, 15 mg.; calcium pantothenate, 8 mg.; vitamin K, 0.5 mg.; pyridoxine H O , 2.6 mg.; riboflavin, 2.0 mg.; thiamine HC1, 5.0 mg.; folic acid, 0.3 mg.; biotin, 0.08 mg.; vitamin B12, 0.004 mg.; vitamin E, 20 I.U.; vitamin A, 3,000 I.U.; vitamin D, 750 I.C.U.; and N,N' diphenyl-paraphenylene diamine, 114mg. 3 When added to the diet, the mineral mixture supplied the following per pound: FeSO<- XH,0, 100 mg.; ZnSOi, 4 mg.; CoCV6H*0, 1 mg.; CUSO.-5HA 7 mg.; and MnSO. (feed grade), 227 mg. 4 When added to the diet, the vitamin mixture supplied the following per kilogram: niacin, 50.0 mg.; calcium pantothenate, 20.0 mg.; menadione, 1.5 mg.; pyridoxine HC1, 10.0 mg.; riboflavin, 10.0 mg.; thiamine HC1, 10.0 mg.; folic acid, 2.0 mg.; biotin 0.2 mg.; vitamin B12, 0.02 mg.; vitamin E, 25 I.U.; vitamin5 A, 6,000 I.U.; and vitamin D, 3001.C.U. When added to the diet, the mineral mixture supplied the following in mg. per kilogram: MnS04 (feed grade), 1,000; FeSO.- XH,0, 300; ZnSO,, 9; CoCV5HiO, 2.2; and CuSO, • 5H.O, 15.
The composition of both the practical and purified basal diets is presented in Table 1. The purified basal ration consisting largely of fish meal and sucrose was based on a chick diet developed by Jensen (1954) for study of unidentified factors in forage juice. I t was hoped that a diet almost devoid of crude materials, originating from plant sources, would result in a deficiency state in certain unidentified factors. Experimental treatments are presented in Table 2. Three pens were placed on each of the treatments. Both basal rations contained approximately 15.8% protein. In the practical basal, the protein level was maintained constant when the supplements were added. In the purified basal, the supplements were added at the expense of sucrose. The experiment was conducted from November 26, 1954 to May 13, 1955.
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Florida International University on May 31, 2015
ported that dehydrated alfalfa leaf meal contained an unidentified factor necessary for hatchability and fertility. Evidence for an unidentified reproduction factor in forage juice was obtained by Stephenson et al. (1954). Contrary to these reports, Grau and Zweigart (1952) failed to find that supplementation of a purified diet with liver " L " improved hatchability. Patterson (1955) found that neither dried whey, liver meal, nor fish solubles significantly increased the hatchability of fertile eggs. In his studies practical and purified diets maintained comparable levels of hatchability. However, a carry-over effect of the maternal diet was observed on subsequent chick growth. Chicks from hens fed an alpha-protein-glucose purified diet were reported to be depleted of unidentified growth factors by Waibel et al. (1955). However, hatchability of fertile eggs was about the same for hens fed a purified diet, a corn-soy diet, or a corn-soy diet supplemented with fish solubles and whole desiccated liver.
314
L. S. JENSEN AND J. MCGINNIS
TABLE 2.—Effect
of treatments upon egg productionwithin the two chick treatments in electriEgg production
Treatment
Pen No.
By pens
By treatments
%
%
58.6 60.2 64.5
62.0
Practical b a s a l + 3 % fish solubles (FS)
7 13 17
58.6 61.8 50.5
56.8
Practical b a s a l + 3 % fish solubles + 3 % forage juice (FJ)
8 12 20
56.9 59.4 61.6
59.4
Practical b a s a l + 3 % fish solubles + 3 % forage j u i c e + 3 % distiller's dried solubles (DDS)
5 15 23
63.5 59.2 59.7
60.8
Purified basal
4 14 21
53.5 55.0 54.9
54.5
3 9 24
54.8 50.5 50.0
51.7
Purified b a s a l + 3 % distiller's dried solubles
2 10 19
52.7 47.9 43.2
47.9
Purified basal + 3 % forage j u i c e + 3 % distiller's dried solubles
6 16 18
56.0 54.8 48.9
53.2
Purified b a s a l + 3 % forage juice
Two studies were made of the effect of maternal diet on growth rate of progeny. The first was conducted after the hens had been on the diets for two months. Fortyeight unsexed chicks from each maternal treatment (except 36 for the purified diet plus DDS) were wing-banded and randomly placed in electrically-heated, wirefloored battery brooders. All the chicks were fed a commercial type chick starter. The chicks were individually weighed initially and at the end of a four-week experimental period. A second carry-over study was conducted two months later. Sixteen female and sixteen male chicks from each of the maternal treatments were fed a semipurified chick basal diet, shown in Table 1. A similar number of male and female chicks from each maternal treatment were fed the semi-purified chick basal plus 3 % distillers' dried solubles and 3 % forage juice. The chicks from the various maternal treatments were randomly distributed
RESULTS
Hen Performance. The egg production data are summarized in Tables 2 and 3. There was no statistically significant difference among the treatments fed the practical diet. The same was true for the treatments receiving the purified basal diet. It was quite apparent from this experiment that none of the unidentified factor sources increased egg production. There was, however, a highly significant difference (P<0.01) in egg production between the hens fed the practical diets and the hens fed the purified diets. Difference in egg production between the two basals is shown in Table 3 by 28-day periods. Throughout the experiment, hens fed the purified diet consistently laid at a lower rate than hens fed the practical diet. The difference in egg production appeared to increase as the experiment progressed. A summary of egg weight data is presented in Table 4. Again there was no significant difference by statistical analysis among the treatments on the practical diet and among the treatments on thepurified diet in egg weight. However, there was again a consistent difference (P <0.01) between the birds receiving the purified diets and those receiving the practical diets. The difference was evident during TABLE 3. —Comparison
of effect of two basal diets upon egg production by periods Egg productionI Period No.*
Practical diet treatments Purified diet treatments
1
2
69.4
61. 6
63.1
58. 7
4
5
61.3
55.4
53.7
56.6
54.9
48.5 43.1
43.0
3
* Each period consisted of 28 days.
6
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Florida International University on May 31, 2015
1 11 22
Pratical basal
cally-heated, wire-floored battery brooders. The chicks were weighed at the start of the experiment and at the end of a fourweek feeding period.
315
UNIDENTIFIED FACTORS AND REPRODUCTION
TAB:LE 4.—Effect of treatments upon egg weights Average egg weight* Treatment
Practical Practical Practical Practical
Purified basal Purified b a s a l + 3 % F J Purified b a s a l + 3 % DDS Purified d i e t + 3 % F J + 3 % DDS Average (purified diets) :
1
2
gms. 57.4 56.6 57.4
gms. 57.8 56.3 57.8
gms. 58.4 57.7 57.2
56.0 56.9
57.3 57.3
53.6 53.8 53.9 54.2 53.9
53.8 53.5 54.8 54.5 54.2
Postexptl. 5
6
gms. 60.9 60.4 60.2
gms. 61.0 60.2 60.9
gms. 62.0 61.5 61.6
gms. 61.6 60.1 60.7
58.2 57.9
60.4 60.5
60.4 60.6
61.7 61.7
60.9 60.8
55.4 55.1 55.5 55.5 55.4
56.5 56.7 56.7 56.8 56.7
54.7 57.2 57.0 56.7 56.4
56.5 58.2 56.0 58.2 57.2
60.1 60.3 59.9 59.5 60.0
Each observation was made on 5 days collection of eggs.
the first month and held throughout the experimental period. At the end of the experiment, all the birds were placed on a commercial laying mash, and after 10 days on this ration, a sample of eggs was obtained for egg weight measurement. I t was evident that during this short postexperimental period, the difference in egg weight between the practical and purified diets almost disappeared. A summary of hatchability data is presented in Table 5. Fertility of all eggs set during the experiment averaged above 90%. Hatchability of fertile eggs was maintained at a relatively high level and there were no significant statistical differences among the various treatments. It is apparent that none of the unidentified factor sources improved hatchability. Chick Performance. The results of the first carry-over study are given in Table 6. In this study all the chicks were fed the same commercial chick starter. There were no important differences in chick weights among the treatments from the hens fed the practical diets or from the hens fed the purified diets. In both cases, the chicks from the hens fed the basal diets grew more rapidly than chicks from hens fed the basal diet plus unidentified
factor sources. There was, however, a difference between the chicks from the practical diet treatments and the chicks from the purified diet treatments. Since there was a difference in egg weight between the two diets, it is probable thai there were differences in initial chick size. Therefore, an analysis of covariance was used to take into account this possible correlation. This analysis showed the difference in chick weights to be highly significant. These results, therefore, demonstrate that something is carried over from the hens fed the practical diets to the chicks which allows them to grow more rapidly than chicks from hens fed purified diets. In the second carry-over study reported in Table 7, the chicks were fed either a semi-purified fish meal-sucrose basal diet or the same diet plus 3 % forage juice and 3 % distillers' dried solubles. In all cases except one the chicks were heavier when fed the diet containing sources of unidentified factors. There was no strong evidence for depletion of unidentified factors in the hens fed the purified diets. The average response to the unidentified factor sources was 8.4% for chicks from the hens fed the practical diet and 8.8% for the chicks
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Florida International University on May 31, 2015
basal b a s a l + 3 % FS b a s a l + 3 % F S + 3 % FJ b a s a l + 3 % F S + 3 % FJ + 3 % DDS Average (practical diets)
Period No. 3 4
316
L. S. JENSEN AND J. MCGINNIS TABLE 5.—Effect
of treatments upon hatchability Hatchability of fertile eggs
Supplement
Practical basal
3 % F S + 3 % FJ
3 % F S + 3 % F J + 3 % DDS
Purified basal
3%FJ
3 % DDS
3 % F J + 3 % DDS
2
1
6
%
%
%
%
%
92.0 93.0 93.8 93.2
94.9 92.0 94.5 93.8
71.4 93.3 88.2 85.5
78.3 82.7 67.9 76.9
80.9 96.3 87.5 88.6
88.8
7 13 17 Average
90.5 84.4 92.3 88.8
93.8 86.2 83.7 86.2
96.6 75.0 97.4 88.3
87.1 79.2 78.0 80.8
72.5 70.0 72.2 71.6
95.5 85.2 80.0 87.6
84.3
8 12 20 Average
95.0 91.2 91.8 92.7
91.3 85.7 93.7 90.3
95.1 87.5 89.1 90.1
90.5 88.4 74.5 84.1
78.0 70.5 86.0 78.4
98.0 88.6 86.2 90.8
88.1
5 15 23 Average
89.0 88.0 94.6 90.6
92.9 89.3 89.6 90.6
95.3 87.2 93.6 92.2
95.1 85.3 78.9 86.7
71.4 73.9 74.5 73.3
100.0 92.9 86.1 93.5
87.7
4 14 21 Average
95.8 89.1 83.6 89.2
93.8 78.0 85.1 85.1
89.7 87.2 81.5 86.7
93.4 84.1 72.7 85.1
44.8 67.7 81.1 65.8
92.5 88.4 96.6 92.0
84.4
3 9 24 Average
93.3 86.3 94.3 91.3
92.5 88.2 90.7 89.6
97.1 88.6 93.3 92.7
86.5 80.0 83.7 83.5
80.0 82.5 65.9 75.8
85.1 94.6 88.2 88.9
87.1
2 10 19 Average
93.8 83.9 90.0 89.0
80.0 86.3 67.6 79.3
86.8 89.7 82.4 86.5
94.4 86.8 75.9 86.4
66.7 76.0 75.0 71.6
88.2 72.2 83.8 82.3
82.9
6 18 18 Average
98.0 89.3 93.2 93.2
95.2 94.1 87.5 92.2
88.6 90.0 100.0 92.0
91.9 76.2 86.2 84.3
78.6 75.0 76.7 76.8
94.7 80.0 91.5 88.5
83.9
basal basal+FS basal+FS+FJ basal+FS+FJ+DDS
diet diet+FJ diet+DDS diet+DDS+FJ
c
4
92.2 94.4 98.6 95.5
Hen treatment
Purified Purified Purified Purified
3
1 11 22 Average
%
TABLE 6.—Effect of maternal chick growth*
Practical Practical Practical Practical
Treatment
Hatch No.
No. of Av. wt. chicks 4 wks. 48 48 48 48
gms. 304 282 295 291
48 48 36 48
279 269 272 277
' All chicks were fed a practical chick starter.
%
from the hens fed the purified diets. Forage juice and distillers' dried solubles included in the maternal diets did not appear to affect the response of the chicks to the same unidentified factor sources in the chick diets. Again, the chicks from the hens fed the purified diets grew slightly less than those from hens fed praccal diets. DISCUSSION Both egg production and egg weight data indicate that a deficiency existed in
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Florida International University on May 31, 2015
3%FS
Pen No.
UNIDENTIFIED FACTORS AND REPRODUCTION TABLE 7.—Effect
317
of maternal diets upon growth of chicks fed purified diets with and without unidentified factor supplements Av. wt. 4 wks.
Hen diet
Chick diet Dup.
Treat.
Response to factors
Purified basal
gms. 229 230
gms. 230
%
Practical basal
Purified b a s a l + F J + DDS
252 249
250
8.7
Practical basal+FS
Purified basal
225 224
224
—
Practical basal+FS
Purified b a s a l + F J + D D S
245 248
247
10.3
Practical b a s a l + F S + F J
Purified basal
235 210
222
—
Practical b a s a l + F S + F J
Purified b a s a l + F J + D D S
266 249
258
16.2
Practical b a s a l + F S + F J + D D S
Purified basal
244 222
233
—
Practical b a s a l + F S + F J + D D S
Purified b a s a l + F J + D D S
232 223
228
2.2
Purified basal
Purified basal
219 192
206
—
Purified basal
Purified b a s a l + F J + D D S
260 222
241
17.0
Purified basal+FJ
Purified basal
227 226
227
—
Purified basal+FJ
Purified b a s a l + F J + D D S
238 226
232
2.2
Purified basal+DDS
Purified basal
228 207
218
—
Purified basal+DDS
Purified b a s a l + F J + D D S
261 228
235
7.8
Purified b a s a l + D D S + F J
Purified basal
219 202
210
—
Purified b a s a l + D D S + F J
Purified b a s a l + F J + D D S
229 225
227
8.1
the purified diets. It is possible that the purified diets were low in protein, or a particular amino acid. Although the calculated level of 15.8% protein meets the National Research Council requirement, there may have been an imbalance in the protein-energy ratio. With chicks fed certain purified diets, it has been necessary to increase protein to 24 percent or more to
obtain maximum growth. The higher concentration of energy in purified diets apparently creates the need for a higher protein requirement (using percentage of diet as the criterion). No significant differences in hatchability were obtained in this experiment nor in the experiments reported by Waibel et al. (1955) and Patterson (1955) involv-
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Florida International University on May 31, 2015
Practical basal
318
L. S. JENSEN AND J. MCGINNIS
The hatchability response to dehydrated alfalfa reported by Jacobs et al. (1953) and attributed to an unidentified factor was probably due to vitamin K. Thus, no clear-cut evidence for unidentified hatchability factors appears to exist. It is possible that with further purification of proteins used in purified diets, or by use of certain stress factors, the need for unidentified factors for hatchability can be demonstrated. However, because it has been impossible to obtain an acute deficiency of any unidentified factor in chicks, it is likely that it will be even more difficult to develop such a deficiency in hens for reproduction. The carry-over studies with chicks were of interest because no evidence for the depletion in hens of unidentified factors supplied by the sources studied in the experiment was obtained. It was of interest that a difference in growth rate was obtained
between chicks from hens fed practical diets and chicks fed purified diets, irrespective of the addition of unidentified factor supplements to these rations. Since the purified hen diets may have been deficient in protein or an amino acid, the question arises whether or not a deficiency of protein or of an amino acid in hen diets can affect the growth rate of chicks produced from eggs laid by these hens. A search of the literature failed to provide concrete evidence on this point. SUMMARY
An experiment has been conducted with White Leghorn chickens to study the needs of the mature fowl for unidentified factors. Supplementation of a cornsoy basal diet with fish solubles, forage juice, distillers' dried solubles, or combinations of these unidentified factor sources, and supplementation of a fish meal-sucrose semi-purified type basal diet with forage juice or distillers' dried solubles, or a combination of these two materials, failed to affect egg production, egg weight, or hatchability of fertile eggs. Higher egg production and larger eggs were obtained on the corn-soy basal treatments than on the purified basal diet treatments. No difference in hatchability was observed between these two rations. Carry-over studies with chicks failed to demonstrate any depletion effect for the unidentified factors studied in this experiment. A difference in growth rate was observed between chicks from the hens fed practical diets and chicks from the hens fed purified diets, regardless of the treatment given the chicks. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors wish to express their appreciation to Merck and Company Inc., Rah way, New Jersey; B. F. Goodrich Chemical Company, Cleveland, Ohio; and Dawes Laboratories Inc., Auburn,
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Florida International University on May 31, 2015
ing different types of purified breeder rations. Therefore, it is difficult to reconcile these results with other reports in which it is concluded that positive responses in hatchability, and in some cases egg production, were obtained. Because of this, reports of unidentified hatchability factors presented by earlier workers were reexamined. It was found that in the work of Couch et al. (1950) and Dieckert and Couch (1951) only four females per treatment were used. This number of birds per treatment seems hardly adequate to study traits which show so much variability. The results obtained by Arscott and Combs (1953) were obtained by superimposing two fish soluble treatments upon a vitamin B i2 requirement experiment during the last four weeks, after the original experiment had been in progress for 25 weeks. The reports by Stephenson and Clower (1952) and Stephenson and coworkers (1954) have only appeared as abstracts, and, therefore, are difficult to examine critically.
UNIDENTIFIED FACTORS AND REPRODUCTION
Washington for vitamins and antioxidants used in these experiments. REFERENCES
source of vitamins and unidentified factors for the mature fowl. Poultry Sci. 32:812-816. Jensen, L. S., 1954. Investigations on an unidentified growth factor in grass juice required by chicks and poults. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. Patterson, E. B., 1955. Unidentified growth factor studies with rats, chickens, turkeys and Lactobacillus Leichmannii. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis. State College of Washington, Pullman, Washington. Stephenson, E. L., and B. B. Clower, 1952. The influence of an unidentified factor found in fish solubles on hatchability. Poultry Sci. 31:936-937. Stephenson, E. L., C. Dickson and B. D. Barnette, 1954. An unidentified forage juice factor necessary for optimum reproduction in White Wyandotte hens. Poultry Sci. 33: 1083. Waibel, P. E., A. D. Morrison and L. C. Norris, 1955. Production of depleted chicks by feeding maternal diets deficient in unidentified growth factors. Poultry Sci. 34:1322-1329.
Ionizing Irradiation of Fresh Shell Eggs1-2 RICHARD W. PARSONS AND W. J. STADELMAN Poultry Science Department, Purdue University, Lafayette, Indiana (Received for publication September 10, 1956)
T
HE application of ionizing radiation to various foodstuffs, for the purpose of sterilization has received considerable attention in the last decade from such workers as: Gaden et al. (1951); Nickerson et al. (1950); and Proctor et al. (1955, 1956). This interest stems from a recognition of the value such a system of cold sterilization would have for both civilian and military food handling procedures. It has become increasingly evident, 1
Journal paper No. 1023. Contribution from Purdue Agricultural Experiment Station as a collaborator under North Central Region cooperative research project entitled, "Maintaining quality of poultry products in market channels." 2 A resume of this paper was presented at the 45 th annual meeting of the Poultry Science Association, North Carolina State College, Raleigh, North Carolina, 1956, Poultry Science 35:1164.
with the bulk of the current research, that irradiation in addition to providing many of the theoretical advantages, results in undesirable changes largely in the form of off-odor and flavor (Gaden et al., 1951; Proctor and Goldblith, 1951; and Proctor etal., 1955). The only known research involving irradiation of fresh shell eggs was reported during the 1954 Poultry Science meeting by McArdle et al. (1954). These authors indicated that 500,000 rep dosage was necessary experimentally to sterilize eggs inoculated with 10,000 cell suspensions of Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas fiuorescens and Micrococcus aureus. This level of irradiation was reputed to have weakened the yolk membranes and reduced Grade A eggs to Grade B or C. They further indi-
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Florida International University on May 31, 2015
Arscott, G. H. and G. F. Combs, 1953. Further evidence for an unidentified hatchability factor in condensed fish solubles. Poultry Sci. 32: 730-733. Couch, J. R., 0 . Olcese, B. C. Sanders and J. V. Halick, 1950. Vitamin B^ APF concentrates, dried whey, fish solubles and liver fraction " L " in the nutrition of the mature fowl. J. Nutrition, 42: 473-186. Dieckert, J. W., and J. R. Couch, 1951. The liver " L " hatchability factor in the nutrition of the mature fowl. Poultry Sci. 30: 935. Grau, C. R., and P. A. Zweigart, 1952. Studies of purified diets for egg production and hatchability. Poultry Sci. 31: 919. Jacobs, R. L., J. F. Elam, J. H. Quisenberry and J. R. Couch, 1953. Dehydrated alfalfa meal as a
319
P. M. NEWBERNE AND W. B. BUCK
REFERENCES Cuckler, A. C , C. M. Maianga, A. J. Basso and P. C. O'Neill, 1955. Antiparasitic activity of some molecular complexes of substituted carbanilides. Science, 122: 244-245. Cuckler, A. C , C. M. Maianga and W. H. Ott,
1956. The antiparasitic activity of Nicarbazin. Poultry Sci. 35: 98-109. Garren, H. W., and C. W. Barger, 1955. Endocrine and lymphatic gland changes occurring in young chickens with fowl typhoid. 34: 1250-1258. Goff, S., W. C. Russell and M. W. Taylor, 1953. Hematology of the chick in vitamin deficiencies. 1. Riboflavin. Poultry Sci. 32: 54-60. Kracke, R. R., 1938. Relation of drug therapy to neutropenic states. J. Am. Med. Assoc. I l l : 1255-1259. Lance, B. G., and A. G. Hogan, 1948. Inositol and nicotinic acid in the nutrition of the turkey. J. Nutrition, 36: 369. Moore, R. A., 1952. A Textbook of Pathology. 2nd Ed. W. B. Saunders Company, Philadelphia, Pa., p. 829. Porter, C. C , and J. L. Gilfillan, 1955. The absorption and excretion of orally administered Nicarbazin by chickens. Poultry Sci. 34: 995-1001. Seyle, H., 1950. Stress. Acta, Inc., Montreal, Canada.
Effect of Different Diets and Unidentified Factor Supplements on Reproduction in Chickens and Early Chick Growth 1 LEO S. JENSEN AND JAMES MCGINNIS Department of Poultry Science, State College of Washington, Pullman, Washington (Received for publication September 10, 1956)
the isolation of vitamin B12, SINCE many investigators have studied the need of the fowl for unidentified nutritional factors. Numerous reports have shown that the addition of various ingredients to different basal diets resulted in increased growth in chicks and poults which was apparently not explainable on the basis of known nutritional factors. On the other hand, relatively few reports have shown that the addition of such ingredients to rations for breeding hens has in1
Scientific Paper No. 1522, Washington Agricultural Experiment Station, Pullman. Project 1247. This investigation was supported in part by funds provided for biological and medical research by the State of Washington Initiative Measure No. 171.
creased the hatchability of fertile eggs. Couch et al. (1950) reported that liver fraction " L " contained an unidentified factor necessary for maximum hatchability. The Texas station (Dieckert and Couch, 1951) again reported a marked hatchability response when whole liver, various fractions of liver "L," and Difco yeast were added to a purified diet. Stephenson and Clower (1952) obtained evidence that the addition of 3 % fish solubles to an all vegetable diet maintained a higher level of hatchability than the basal diet. Additional evidence for an unidentified hatchability factor in condensed fish solubles was reported by Arscott and Combs (1953). Jacobs et al. (1953) re-
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Florida International University on May 31, 2015
Changes in blood cellular elements included a reduction in heterophils on high levels (0.050% and 0.10%). This was accompanied by a thrombocytosis. Histologically there was degeneration of the liver cells and renal tubular epithelium. Alterations were observed in lymphoid tissues over the body. Ossified nodules were found in the lung tissues. These data indicate a somewhat narrow margin of safety for Nicarbazin.
313
UNIDENTIFIED FACTORS AND REPRODUCTION
The present study was undertaken to compare the effect of semi-purified and practical diets with and without supplements of various unidentified factor materials on reproduction in chickens and early chick growth of progeny. PROCEDURE
Single Comb White Leghorn pullets approximately 7 months old were distributed into 24 pens of 20 pullets each. They were housed in a wire-floor cage type laying house with a 4 ' X 8 ' area available for each group. Three White Leghorn cockerals were placed in each pen. Records were kept on egg production, mortality, average egg weight, fertility, and hatchability. Five consecutive days' egg production for each 28-day period was incubated. These same eggs were also used to obtain average egg weight. /
TABLE 1.—Composition of diets Ingredient
hen diet
hen diet
chick diet
Ground yellow corn Soybean oil meal (44% protein) Dehydrated alfalfa Fish meal, herring ( 7 2 % protein) Sucrose Cellulose (Solkafloc) Ground limestone Steamed bone meal Iodized salt KC1 MgSO* • 7 H 2 0 Choline Chloride (70%) Vitamin Mixture Mineral Mixture
68.2
%
%
%
20.0 5.0
— —
—• —. — 3.0 2.8 0.5
— — — 00.51 —
22.0 67.67 3.0 3.1 1.5 0.4 0.4 0.25 0.125 1.02 0.5'
—
•
— 29.0 64.16 3.0 • — .
1.0 0.4 0.4 0.25 0.29 1.0' 0.5«
1 When added to the diet, the vitamin mixture supplied the following per pound: vitamin A, 1,000 I.U.; vitamin Dg, 375 I.C.U.; riboflavin, 1.85 mg.; vitamin B12, 5 mg.; calcium pantothenate, 4 mg.; and MnSO< (feed grade), 78 mg. 2 When added to the diet, the vitamin mixture supplied the following per pound: niacin, 15 mg.; calcium pantothenate, 8 mg.; vitamin K, 0.5 mg.; pyridoxine H O , 2.6 mg.; riboflavin, 2.0 mg.; thiamine HC1, 5.0 mg.; folic acid, 0.3 mg.; biotin, 0.08 mg.; vitamin B12, 0.004 mg.; vitamin E, 20 I.U.; vitamin A, 3,000 I.U.; vitamin D, 750 I.C.U.; and N,N' diphenyl-paraphenylene diamine, 114mg. 3 When added to the diet, the mineral mixture supplied the following per pound: FeSO<- XH,0, 100 mg.; ZnSOi, 4 mg.; CoCV6H*0, 1 mg.; CUSO.-5HA 7 mg.; and MnSO. (feed grade), 227 mg. 4 When added to the diet, the vitamin mixture supplied the following per kilogram: niacin, 50.0 mg.; calcium pantothenate, 20.0 mg.; menadione, 1.5 mg.; pyridoxine HC1, 10.0 mg.; riboflavin, 10.0 mg.; thiamine HC1, 10.0 mg.; folic acid, 2.0 mg.; biotin 0.2 mg.; vitamin B12, 0.02 mg.; vitamin E, 25 I.U.; vitamin5 A, 6,000 I.U.; and vitamin D, 3001.C.U. When added to the diet, the mineral mixture supplied the following in mg. per kilogram: MnS04 (feed grade), 1,000; FeSO.- XH,0, 300; ZnSO,, 9; CoCV5HiO, 2.2; and CuSO, • 5H.O, 15.
The composition of both the practical and purified basal diets is presented in Table 1. The purified basal ration consisting largely of fish meal and sucrose was based on a chick diet developed by Jensen (1954) for study of unidentified factors in forage juice. I t was hoped that a diet almost devoid of crude materials, originating from plant sources, would result in a deficiency state in certain unidentified factors. Experimental treatments are presented in Table 2. Three pens were placed on each of the treatments. Both basal rations contained approximately 15.8% protein. In the practical basal, the protein level was maintained constant when the supplements were added. In the purified basal, the supplements were added at the expense of sucrose. The experiment was conducted from November 26, 1954 to May 13, 1955.
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Florida International University on May 31, 2015
ported that dehydrated alfalfa leaf meal contained an unidentified factor necessary for hatchability and fertility. Evidence for an unidentified reproduction factor in forage juice was obtained by Stephenson et al. (1954). Contrary to these reports, Grau and Zweigart (1952) failed to find that supplementation of a purified diet with liver " L " improved hatchability. Patterson (1955) found that neither dried whey, liver meal, nor fish solubles significantly increased the hatchability of fertile eggs. In his studies practical and purified diets maintained comparable levels of hatchability. However, a carry-over effect of the maternal diet was observed on subsequent chick growth. Chicks from hens fed an alpha-protein-glucose purified diet were reported to be depleted of unidentified growth factors by Waibel et al. (1955). However, hatchability of fertile eggs was about the same for hens fed a purified diet, a corn-soy diet, or a corn-soy diet supplemented with fish solubles and whole desiccated liver.
314
L. S. JENSEN AND J. MCGINNIS
TABLE 2.—Effect
of treatments upon egg productionwithin the two chick treatments in electriEgg production
Treatment
Pen No.
By pens
By treatments
%
%
58.6 60.2 64.5
62.0
Practical b a s a l + 3 % fish solubles (FS)
7 13 17
58.6 61.8 50.5
56.8
Practical b a s a l + 3 % fish solubles + 3 % forage juice (FJ)
8 12 20
56.9 59.4 61.6
59.4
Practical b a s a l + 3 % fish solubles + 3 % forage j u i c e + 3 % distiller's dried solubles (DDS)
5 15 23
63.5 59.2 59.7
60.8
Purified basal
4 14 21
53.5 55.0 54.9
54.5
3 9 24
54.8 50.5 50.0
51.7
Purified b a s a l + 3 % distiller's dried solubles
2 10 19
52.7 47.9 43.2
47.9
Purified basal + 3 % forage j u i c e + 3 % distiller's dried solubles
6 16 18
56.0 54.8 48.9
53.2
Purified b a s a l + 3 % forage juice
Two studies were made of the effect of maternal diet on growth rate of progeny. The first was conducted after the hens had been on the diets for two months. Fortyeight unsexed chicks from each maternal treatment (except 36 for the purified diet plus DDS) were wing-banded and randomly placed in electrically-heated, wirefloored battery brooders. All the chicks were fed a commercial type chick starter. The chicks were individually weighed initially and at the end of a four-week experimental period. A second carry-over study was conducted two months later. Sixteen female and sixteen male chicks from each of the maternal treatments were fed a semipurified chick basal diet, shown in Table 1. A similar number of male and female chicks from each maternal treatment were fed the semi-purified chick basal plus 3 % distillers' dried solubles and 3 % forage juice. The chicks from the various maternal treatments were randomly distributed
RESULTS
Hen Performance. The egg production data are summarized in Tables 2 and 3. There was no statistically significant difference among the treatments fed the practical diet. The same was true for the treatments receiving the purified basal diet. It was quite apparent from this experiment that none of the unidentified factor sources increased egg production. There was, however, a highly significant difference (P<0.01) in egg production between the hens fed the practical diets and the hens fed the purified diets. Difference in egg production between the two basals is shown in Table 3 by 28-day periods. Throughout the experiment, hens fed the purified diet consistently laid at a lower rate than hens fed the practical diet. The difference in egg production appeared to increase as the experiment progressed. A summary of egg weight data is presented in Table 4. Again there was no significant difference by statistical analysis among the treatments on the practical diet and among the treatments on thepurified diet in egg weight. However, there was again a consistent difference (P <0.01) between the birds receiving the purified diets and those receiving the practical diets. The difference was evident during TABLE 3. —Comparison
of effect of two basal diets upon egg production by periods Egg productionI Period No.*
Practical diet treatments Purified diet treatments
1
2
69.4
61. 6
63.1
58. 7
4
5
61.3
55.4
53.7
56.6
54.9
48.5 43.1
43.0
3
* Each period consisted of 28 days.
6
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Florida International University on May 31, 2015
1 11 22
Pratical basal
cally-heated, wire-floored battery brooders. The chicks were weighed at the start of the experiment and at the end of a fourweek feeding period.
315
UNIDENTIFIED FACTORS AND REPRODUCTION
TAB:LE 4.—Effect of treatments upon egg weights Average egg weight* Treatment
Practical Practical Practical Practical
Purified basal Purified b a s a l + 3 % F J Purified b a s a l + 3 % DDS Purified d i e t + 3 % F J + 3 % DDS Average (purified diets) :
1
2
gms. 57.4 56.6 57.4
gms. 57.8 56.3 57.8
gms. 58.4 57.7 57.2
56.0 56.9
57.3 57.3
53.6 53.8 53.9 54.2 53.9
53.8 53.5 54.8 54.5 54.2
Postexptl. 5
6
gms. 60.9 60.4 60.2
gms. 61.0 60.2 60.9
gms. 62.0 61.5 61.6
gms. 61.6 60.1 60.7
58.2 57.9
60.4 60.5
60.4 60.6
61.7 61.7
60.9 60.8
55.4 55.1 55.5 55.5 55.4
56.5 56.7 56.7 56.8 56.7
54.7 57.2 57.0 56.7 56.4
56.5 58.2 56.0 58.2 57.2
60.1 60.3 59.9 59.5 60.0
Each observation was made on 5 days collection of eggs.
the first month and held throughout the experimental period. At the end of the experiment, all the birds were placed on a commercial laying mash, and after 10 days on this ration, a sample of eggs was obtained for egg weight measurement. I t was evident that during this short postexperimental period, the difference in egg weight between the practical and purified diets almost disappeared. A summary of hatchability data is presented in Table 5. Fertility of all eggs set during the experiment averaged above 90%. Hatchability of fertile eggs was maintained at a relatively high level and there were no significant statistical differences among the various treatments. It is apparent that none of the unidentified factor sources improved hatchability. Chick Performance. The results of the first carry-over study are given in Table 6. In this study all the chicks were fed the same commercial chick starter. There were no important differences in chick weights among the treatments from the hens fed the practical diets or from the hens fed the purified diets. In both cases, the chicks from the hens fed the basal diets grew more rapidly than chicks from hens fed the basal diet plus unidentified
factor sources. There was, however, a difference between the chicks from the practical diet treatments and the chicks from the purified diet treatments. Since there was a difference in egg weight between the two diets, it is probable thai there were differences in initial chick size. Therefore, an analysis of covariance was used to take into account this possible correlation. This analysis showed the difference in chick weights to be highly significant. These results, therefore, demonstrate that something is carried over from the hens fed the practical diets to the chicks which allows them to grow more rapidly than chicks from hens fed purified diets. In the second carry-over study reported in Table 7, the chicks were fed either a semi-purified fish meal-sucrose basal diet or the same diet plus 3 % forage juice and 3 % distillers' dried solubles. In all cases except one the chicks were heavier when fed the diet containing sources of unidentified factors. There was no strong evidence for depletion of unidentified factors in the hens fed the purified diets. The average response to the unidentified factor sources was 8.4% for chicks from the hens fed the practical diet and 8.8% for the chicks
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Florida International University on May 31, 2015
basal b a s a l + 3 % FS b a s a l + 3 % F S + 3 % FJ b a s a l + 3 % F S + 3 % FJ + 3 % DDS Average (practical diets)
Period No. 3 4
316
L. S. JENSEN AND J. MCGINNIS TABLE 5.—Effect
of treatments upon hatchability Hatchability of fertile eggs
Supplement
Practical basal
3 % F S + 3 % FJ
3 % F S + 3 % F J + 3 % DDS
Purified basal
3%FJ
3 % DDS
3 % F J + 3 % DDS
2
1
6
%
%
%
%
%
92.0 93.0 93.8 93.2
94.9 92.0 94.5 93.8
71.4 93.3 88.2 85.5
78.3 82.7 67.9 76.9
80.9 96.3 87.5 88.6
88.8
7 13 17 Average
90.5 84.4 92.3 88.8
93.8 86.2 83.7 86.2
96.6 75.0 97.4 88.3
87.1 79.2 78.0 80.8
72.5 70.0 72.2 71.6
95.5 85.2 80.0 87.6
84.3
8 12 20 Average
95.0 91.2 91.8 92.7
91.3 85.7 93.7 90.3
95.1 87.5 89.1 90.1
90.5 88.4 74.5 84.1
78.0 70.5 86.0 78.4
98.0 88.6 86.2 90.8
88.1
5 15 23 Average
89.0 88.0 94.6 90.6
92.9 89.3 89.6 90.6
95.3 87.2 93.6 92.2
95.1 85.3 78.9 86.7
71.4 73.9 74.5 73.3
100.0 92.9 86.1 93.5
87.7
4 14 21 Average
95.8 89.1 83.6 89.2
93.8 78.0 85.1 85.1
89.7 87.2 81.5 86.7
93.4 84.1 72.7 85.1
44.8 67.7 81.1 65.8
92.5 88.4 96.6 92.0
84.4
3 9 24 Average
93.3 86.3 94.3 91.3
92.5 88.2 90.7 89.6
97.1 88.6 93.3 92.7
86.5 80.0 83.7 83.5
80.0 82.5 65.9 75.8
85.1 94.6 88.2 88.9
87.1
2 10 19 Average
93.8 83.9 90.0 89.0
80.0 86.3 67.6 79.3
86.8 89.7 82.4 86.5
94.4 86.8 75.9 86.4
66.7 76.0 75.0 71.6
88.2 72.2 83.8 82.3
82.9
6 18 18 Average
98.0 89.3 93.2 93.2
95.2 94.1 87.5 92.2
88.6 90.0 100.0 92.0
91.9 76.2 86.2 84.3
78.6 75.0 76.7 76.8
94.7 80.0 91.5 88.5
83.9
basal basal+FS basal+FS+FJ basal+FS+FJ+DDS
diet diet+FJ diet+DDS diet+DDS+FJ
c
4
92.2 94.4 98.6 95.5
Hen treatment
Purified Purified Purified Purified
3
1 11 22 Average
%
TABLE 6.—Effect of maternal chick growth*
Practical Practical Practical Practical
Treatment
Hatch No.
No. of Av. wt. chicks 4 wks. 48 48 48 48
gms. 304 282 295 291
48 48 36 48
279 269 272 277
' All chicks were fed a practical chick starter.
%
from the hens fed the purified diets. Forage juice and distillers' dried solubles included in the maternal diets did not appear to affect the response of the chicks to the same unidentified factor sources in the chick diets. Again, the chicks from the hens fed the purified diets grew slightly less than those from hens fed praccal diets. DISCUSSION Both egg production and egg weight data indicate that a deficiency existed in
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Florida International University on May 31, 2015
3%FS
Pen No.
UNIDENTIFIED FACTORS AND REPRODUCTION TABLE 7.—Effect
317
of maternal diets upon growth of chicks fed purified diets with and without unidentified factor supplements Av. wt. 4 wks.
Hen diet
Chick diet Dup.
Treat.
Response to factors
Purified basal
gms. 229 230
gms. 230
%
Practical basal
Purified b a s a l + F J + DDS
252 249
250
8.7
Practical basal+FS
Purified basal
225 224
224
—
Practical basal+FS
Purified b a s a l + F J + D D S
245 248
247
10.3
Practical b a s a l + F S + F J
Purified basal
235 210
222
—
Practical b a s a l + F S + F J
Purified b a s a l + F J + D D S
266 249
258
16.2
Practical b a s a l + F S + F J + D D S
Purified basal
244 222
233
—
Practical b a s a l + F S + F J + D D S
Purified b a s a l + F J + D D S
232 223
228
2.2
Purified basal
Purified basal
219 192
206
—
Purified basal
Purified b a s a l + F J + D D S
260 222
241
17.0
Purified basal+FJ
Purified basal
227 226
227
—
Purified basal+FJ
Purified b a s a l + F J + D D S
238 226
232
2.2
Purified basal+DDS
Purified basal
228 207
218
—
Purified basal+DDS
Purified b a s a l + F J + D D S
261 228
235
7.8
Purified b a s a l + D D S + F J
Purified basal
219 202
210
—
Purified b a s a l + D D S + F J
Purified b a s a l + F J + D D S
229 225
227
8.1
the purified diets. It is possible that the purified diets were low in protein, or a particular amino acid. Although the calculated level of 15.8% protein meets the National Research Council requirement, there may have been an imbalance in the protein-energy ratio. With chicks fed certain purified diets, it has been necessary to increase protein to 24 percent or more to
obtain maximum growth. The higher concentration of energy in purified diets apparently creates the need for a higher protein requirement (using percentage of diet as the criterion). No significant differences in hatchability were obtained in this experiment nor in the experiments reported by Waibel et al. (1955) and Patterson (1955) involv-
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Florida International University on May 31, 2015
Practical basal
318
L. S. JENSEN AND J. MCGINNIS
The hatchability response to dehydrated alfalfa reported by Jacobs et al. (1953) and attributed to an unidentified factor was probably due to vitamin K. Thus, no clear-cut evidence for unidentified hatchability factors appears to exist. It is possible that with further purification of proteins used in purified diets, or by use of certain stress factors, the need for unidentified factors for hatchability can be demonstrated. However, because it has been impossible to obtain an acute deficiency of any unidentified factor in chicks, it is likely that it will be even more difficult to develop such a deficiency in hens for reproduction. The carry-over studies with chicks were of interest because no evidence for the depletion in hens of unidentified factors supplied by the sources studied in the experiment was obtained. It was of interest that a difference in growth rate was obtained
between chicks from hens fed practical diets and chicks fed purified diets, irrespective of the addition of unidentified factor supplements to these rations. Since the purified hen diets may have been deficient in protein or an amino acid, the question arises whether or not a deficiency of protein or of an amino acid in hen diets can affect the growth rate of chicks produced from eggs laid by these hens. A search of the literature failed to provide concrete evidence on this point. SUMMARY
An experiment has been conducted with White Leghorn chickens to study the needs of the mature fowl for unidentified factors. Supplementation of a cornsoy basal diet with fish solubles, forage juice, distillers' dried solubles, or combinations of these unidentified factor sources, and supplementation of a fish meal-sucrose semi-purified type basal diet with forage juice or distillers' dried solubles, or a combination of these two materials, failed to affect egg production, egg weight, or hatchability of fertile eggs. Higher egg production and larger eggs were obtained on the corn-soy basal treatments than on the purified basal diet treatments. No difference in hatchability was observed between these two rations. Carry-over studies with chicks failed to demonstrate any depletion effect for the unidentified factors studied in this experiment. A difference in growth rate was observed between chicks from the hens fed practical diets and chicks from the hens fed purified diets, regardless of the treatment given the chicks. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors wish to express their appreciation to Merck and Company Inc., Rah way, New Jersey; B. F. Goodrich Chemical Company, Cleveland, Ohio; and Dawes Laboratories Inc., Auburn,
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Florida International University on May 31, 2015
ing different types of purified breeder rations. Therefore, it is difficult to reconcile these results with other reports in which it is concluded that positive responses in hatchability, and in some cases egg production, were obtained. Because of this, reports of unidentified hatchability factors presented by earlier workers were reexamined. It was found that in the work of Couch et al. (1950) and Dieckert and Couch (1951) only four females per treatment were used. This number of birds per treatment seems hardly adequate to study traits which show so much variability. The results obtained by Arscott and Combs (1953) were obtained by superimposing two fish soluble treatments upon a vitamin B i2 requirement experiment during the last four weeks, after the original experiment had been in progress for 25 weeks. The reports by Stephenson and Clower (1952) and Stephenson and coworkers (1954) have only appeared as abstracts, and, therefore, are difficult to examine critically.
UNIDENTIFIED FACTORS AND REPRODUCTION
Washington for vitamins and antioxidants used in these experiments. REFERENCES
source of vitamins and unidentified factors for the mature fowl. Poultry Sci. 32:812-816. Jensen, L. S., 1954. Investigations on an unidentified growth factor in grass juice required by chicks and poults. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. Patterson, E. B., 1955. Unidentified growth factor studies with rats, chickens, turkeys and Lactobacillus Leichmannii. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis. State College of Washington, Pullman, Washington. Stephenson, E. L., and B. B. Clower, 1952. The influence of an unidentified factor found in fish solubles on hatchability. Poultry Sci. 31:936-937. Stephenson, E. L., C. Dickson and B. D. Barnette, 1954. An unidentified forage juice factor necessary for optimum reproduction in White Wyandotte hens. Poultry Sci. 33: 1083. Waibel, P. E., A. D. Morrison and L. C. Norris, 1955. Production of depleted chicks by feeding maternal diets deficient in unidentified growth factors. Poultry Sci. 34:1322-1329.
Ionizing Irradiation of Fresh Shell Eggs1-2 RICHARD W. PARSONS AND W. J. STADELMAN Poultry Science Department, Purdue University, Lafayette, Indiana (Received for publication September 10, 1956)
T
HE application of ionizing radiation to various foodstuffs, for the purpose of sterilization has received considerable attention in the last decade from such workers as: Gaden et al. (1951); Nickerson et al. (1950); and Proctor et al. (1955, 1956). This interest stems from a recognition of the value such a system of cold sterilization would have for both civilian and military food handling procedures. It has become increasingly evident, 1
Journal paper No. 1023. Contribution from Purdue Agricultural Experiment Station as a collaborator under North Central Region cooperative research project entitled, "Maintaining quality of poultry products in market channels." 2 A resume of this paper was presented at the 45 th annual meeting of the Poultry Science Association, North Carolina State College, Raleigh, North Carolina, 1956, Poultry Science 35:1164.
with the bulk of the current research, that irradiation in addition to providing many of the theoretical advantages, results in undesirable changes largely in the form of off-odor and flavor (Gaden et al., 1951; Proctor and Goldblith, 1951; and Proctor etal., 1955). The only known research involving irradiation of fresh shell eggs was reported during the 1954 Poultry Science meeting by McArdle et al. (1954). These authors indicated that 500,000 rep dosage was necessary experimentally to sterilize eggs inoculated with 10,000 cell suspensions of Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas fiuorescens and Micrococcus aureus. This level of irradiation was reputed to have weakened the yolk membranes and reduced Grade A eggs to Grade B or C. They further indi-
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Florida International University on May 31, 2015
Arscott, G. H. and G. F. Combs, 1953. Further evidence for an unidentified hatchability factor in condensed fish solubles. Poultry Sci. 32: 730-733. Couch, J. R., 0 . Olcese, B. C. Sanders and J. V. Halick, 1950. Vitamin B^ APF concentrates, dried whey, fish solubles and liver fraction " L " in the nutrition of the mature fowl. J. Nutrition, 42: 473-186. Dieckert, J. W., and J. R. Couch, 1951. The liver " L " hatchability factor in the nutrition of the mature fowl. Poultry Sci. 30: 935. Grau, C. R., and P. A. Zweigart, 1952. Studies of purified diets for egg production and hatchability. Poultry Sci. 31: 919. Jacobs, R. L., J. F. Elam, J. H. Quisenberry and J. R. Couch, 1953. Dehydrated alfalfa meal as a
319