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Further Evidence for an Unidentified Growth Factor Required by the Poult1
RESEARCH NOTES
623
FURTHER EVIDENCE FOR AN UNIDENTIFIED GROWTH FACTOR REQUIRED BY THE POULT 1 G. F. COMBS AND C. S. SHAFJNER Poultry Department, University of Maryland, College Park (Received for publication April 26, 19S0)
Day-old Beltsville White poults of mixed sex were reared to 5 weeks in electrically heated batteries with raised wire screen floors. Two lots of poults, located so as to eliminate positional effects, were subjected to each treatment in each experiment. The basal ration used in the first experiment contained 34.8 percent yellow corn, 58.0 percent soybean meal (expeller), 5.0 percent steamed bone meal, 1.25 percent limestone, 0.5 percent iodized salt, 0.5 percent cod liver oil (3000 A, 1 Scientific paper No. A276. Contribution No. 2220 of the Maryland Agricultural Experiment Station (Department of Poultry Husbandry).
400 D), and 0.025 percent manganese sulfate. In addition, 200 mg. of choline chloride, 15 mg. of niacin, 2 mg. of riboflavin, 2 mg. of calcium pantothenate, and 0.2 mg. of menadione were added per pound of ration. The basal ration used in the second experiment differed from the above only in that 10 percent corn gluten meal was used to replace an equivalent amount of soybean meal. These rations are considered to be adequate in all known nutrients required by the poult, except for vitamin B12. The supplements were included in the ration in place of corn and soybean meal, so as to keep the protein constant at 28 percent. The amounts of limestone and steamed bone meal used were also varied as required to maintain similar calcium and phosphorus levels. In the first experiment, two different commercial vitamin Bi2 concentrates, designated "A" and " B , " were added separately to the basal ration. Dried whey, dried brewers' yeast, crab meal, and menhaden fish meal were then added in combination with B i2 concentrate " B " to determine whether or not these supplements had any additional value. In the second experiment, dried brewers' yeast alone was added to the basal ration in combination with 40 micrograms of vitamin Bi2 per kilogram, supplied as Bi2 concentrate " B . " The results of these two experiments are presented in the table. The addition of vitamin B J2 at a level of 40 micrograms per kilogram of ration by
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Oakland University on June 12, 2015
Several investigators have reported that the growth of poults is improved by the inclusion of a source of the "animal protein" factor in the ration, Scott et al. (1948) concluded that the poult has higher requirements than the chick for both the "animal protein" factor and factor S. McGinnis et al. (1949) reported that turkey poults fed a soybean mealcereal grain turkey diet responded to a commercial fermentation product, whereas no response was obtained from a liver preparation containing vitamin Bi2. Similar results have more recently been reported by Stokstad et al. (1950), in studies involving the use of aureomycin fermentation mash. The results of the experiments presented here further demonstrate that vitamin B12 alone cannot adequately supplement a poult starting ration containing soybean meal as the primary source of protein.
624
RESEARCH NOTES TABLE 1.—Growth response of poults as influenced by supplements to basal ration
Group No.
Supplement
No. of surviving poults1
None 40 Mg. B 12 /kg. (B12 cone. "A") 40 Mg. B 12 /kg. (B12 cone. "B") As 3 + 5 % dried whey plus 5% dried brewers' yeast As 4 + 5 % crab meal As 5 + 5 % Menhaden fish meal
17 18 17 18 18 17
40 Mg. Bu/kg. (B,2 cone. "B") As 1 + 5 % dried brewers' yeast As 1 + 10% dried brewers' yeast
17 16 16
Ave. wt. at 5 wks.
Experiment 1 2 3 4 5 6
gm. 384 413 397
438: 501' 551=
Experiment 2 507 552 605*
1 Number of poults at start in experiments 1 and 2 were 18 and 17, respectively. * Difference between this value and that for the group 1 is statistically significant to the 5% level. ** Differences between these values and that for group 3 are statistically significant to the 1% level.
either of the vitamin Bi2 crude concentrates in experiment 1 resulted in only a small increase in weight at 5 weeks. Since these poults were hatched from eggs of hens fed a complete turkey breeder ration, no great difference due to the addition of vitamin B i2 was expected. The addition of 5 percent dried whey and 5 percent dried brewers' yeast to the ration, which contained 40 micrograms of vitamin B12 per kilogram, resulted in a significant increase in growth of poults. Moreover, further additions of 5 percent crab meal and 5 percent menhaden fish meal produced even more rapid growth of poults. In experiment 2, the inclusion of 5 or 10 percent dried brewers' yeast to a ration fortified with 40 micrograms of vitamin B12 per kilogram of ration also resulted in highly significant increases in growth of poults to 5 weeks of age. It is believed that these results show that the starting poult requires an unidentified factor, or factors, not contained in adequate quantities in the basal rations. Dried brewers' yeast, menhaden
fish meal and crab meal are considered to be good sources of this unidentified factor. The relationship, if any, between other unknown growth factors previously described and the unidentified factor under consideration in this paper is not known. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The authors are indebted to Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, N. T., for supplying crystalline vitamins, and to the Crab Meal Research Association, Philadelphia, Pa., for supplying the crab meal used in this investigation. REFERENCES McGinnis, James, E. L. Stephenson, B. T. H. Levadie and J. S. Carver, 1949. Response of chicks and turkey poults to vitamin B12 supplements produced by fermentation with different organisms. Abs., 116th Meeting, Amer. Chem. Soc, Sept., 1949, p. 42A. Scott, M. L., G. F. Heuser and L. C. Norris, 1948. Energy, protein and unidentified vitamins in poult nutrition. Poultry Sci. 27: 773-780. Stokstad, E. L. R., and T, H. Jukes, 1950. Vitamin B12 and some of its interrelationships. Abs., 117th Meeting, Amer. Chem. Soc, April, 1950, p. 12A.
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Oakland University on June 12, 2015
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623
FURTHER EVIDENCE FOR AN UNIDENTIFIED GROWTH FACTOR REQUIRED BY THE POULT 1 G. F. COMBS AND C. S. SHAFJNER Poultry Department, University of Maryland, College Park (Received for publication April 26, 19S0)
Day-old Beltsville White poults of mixed sex were reared to 5 weeks in electrically heated batteries with raised wire screen floors. Two lots of poults, located so as to eliminate positional effects, were subjected to each treatment in each experiment. The basal ration used in the first experiment contained 34.8 percent yellow corn, 58.0 percent soybean meal (expeller), 5.0 percent steamed bone meal, 1.25 percent limestone, 0.5 percent iodized salt, 0.5 percent cod liver oil (3000 A, 1 Scientific paper No. A276. Contribution No. 2220 of the Maryland Agricultural Experiment Station (Department of Poultry Husbandry).
400 D), and 0.025 percent manganese sulfate. In addition, 200 mg. of choline chloride, 15 mg. of niacin, 2 mg. of riboflavin, 2 mg. of calcium pantothenate, and 0.2 mg. of menadione were added per pound of ration. The basal ration used in the second experiment differed from the above only in that 10 percent corn gluten meal was used to replace an equivalent amount of soybean meal. These rations are considered to be adequate in all known nutrients required by the poult, except for vitamin B12. The supplements were included in the ration in place of corn and soybean meal, so as to keep the protein constant at 28 percent. The amounts of limestone and steamed bone meal used were also varied as required to maintain similar calcium and phosphorus levels. In the first experiment, two different commercial vitamin Bi2 concentrates, designated "A" and " B , " were added separately to the basal ration. Dried whey, dried brewers' yeast, crab meal, and menhaden fish meal were then added in combination with B i2 concentrate " B " to determine whether or not these supplements had any additional value. In the second experiment, dried brewers' yeast alone was added to the basal ration in combination with 40 micrograms of vitamin Bi2 per kilogram, supplied as Bi2 concentrate " B . " The results of these two experiments are presented in the table. The addition of vitamin B J2 at a level of 40 micrograms per kilogram of ration by
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Oakland University on June 12, 2015
Several investigators have reported that the growth of poults is improved by the inclusion of a source of the "animal protein" factor in the ration, Scott et al. (1948) concluded that the poult has higher requirements than the chick for both the "animal protein" factor and factor S. McGinnis et al. (1949) reported that turkey poults fed a soybean mealcereal grain turkey diet responded to a commercial fermentation product, whereas no response was obtained from a liver preparation containing vitamin Bi2. Similar results have more recently been reported by Stokstad et al. (1950), in studies involving the use of aureomycin fermentation mash. The results of the experiments presented here further demonstrate that vitamin B12 alone cannot adequately supplement a poult starting ration containing soybean meal as the primary source of protein.
624
RESEARCH NOTES TABLE 1.—Growth response of poults as influenced by supplements to basal ration
Group No.
Supplement
No. of surviving poults1
None 40 Mg. B 12 /kg. (B12 cone. "A") 40 Mg. B 12 /kg. (B12 cone. "B") As 3 + 5 % dried whey plus 5% dried brewers' yeast As 4 + 5 % crab meal As 5 + 5 % Menhaden fish meal
17 18 17 18 18 17
40 Mg. Bu/kg. (B,2 cone. "B") As 1 + 5 % dried brewers' yeast As 1 + 10% dried brewers' yeast
17 16 16
Ave. wt. at 5 wks.
Experiment 1 2 3 4 5 6
gm. 384 413 397
438: 501' 551=
Experiment 2 507 552 605*
1 Number of poults at start in experiments 1 and 2 were 18 and 17, respectively. * Difference between this value and that for the group 1 is statistically significant to the 5% level. ** Differences between these values and that for group 3 are statistically significant to the 1% level.
either of the vitamin Bi2 crude concentrates in experiment 1 resulted in only a small increase in weight at 5 weeks. Since these poults were hatched from eggs of hens fed a complete turkey breeder ration, no great difference due to the addition of vitamin B i2 was expected. The addition of 5 percent dried whey and 5 percent dried brewers' yeast to the ration, which contained 40 micrograms of vitamin B12 per kilogram, resulted in a significant increase in growth of poults. Moreover, further additions of 5 percent crab meal and 5 percent menhaden fish meal produced even more rapid growth of poults. In experiment 2, the inclusion of 5 or 10 percent dried brewers' yeast to a ration fortified with 40 micrograms of vitamin B12 per kilogram of ration also resulted in highly significant increases in growth of poults to 5 weeks of age. It is believed that these results show that the starting poult requires an unidentified factor, or factors, not contained in adequate quantities in the basal rations. Dried brewers' yeast, menhaden
fish meal and crab meal are considered to be good sources of this unidentified factor. The relationship, if any, between other unknown growth factors previously described and the unidentified factor under consideration in this paper is not known. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The authors are indebted to Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, N. T., for supplying crystalline vitamins, and to the Crab Meal Research Association, Philadelphia, Pa., for supplying the crab meal used in this investigation. REFERENCES McGinnis, James, E. L. Stephenson, B. T. H. Levadie and J. S. Carver, 1949. Response of chicks and turkey poults to vitamin B12 supplements produced by fermentation with different organisms. Abs., 116th Meeting, Amer. Chem. Soc, Sept., 1949, p. 42A. Scott, M. L., G. F. Heuser and L. C. Norris, 1948. Energy, protein and unidentified vitamins in poult nutrition. Poultry Sci. 27: 773-780. Stokstad, E. L. R., and T, H. Jukes, 1950. Vitamin B12 and some of its interrelationships. Abs., 117th Meeting, Amer. Chem. Soc, April, 1950, p. 12A.
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Oakland University on June 12, 2015
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