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Sources and Levels of Vitamin K in Relation to Cecal Coccidiosis1, 2
Sources and Levels of Vitamin K in Relation to Cecal Coccidiosis1 J. F. STEPHENS AND R. L. TUGWELL
Poultry Department, Tennessee Agricultural Experiment Station, Knoxville (Received for publication December 22, 1959)
INTRODUCTION
ported that fish meal, when washed and dried slowly, possessed antihemorrhagic ALDWIN, Wis well and Jankiewicz activity. Almquist and Stokstad (1936) (1941) reported that only one of ten and, later, Anderson et al. (1954) observed chickens given oral administrations of that chicken feces possessed vitamin K vitamin K died following individual inactivity. oculation with 6,000 sporulated oocysts of Reports are lacking in the literature reEimeria tenella. However, when no supplelating to the effectiveness of fish meal and mental vitamin K was given, seven of ten chicken feces in the prevention of mortalinoculated chicks died of cecal coccidiosis. ity from cecal coccidiosis. Information Harms and Tugwell (1956) reported that pertaining to the quantities of vitamin K mortality from cecal coccidiosis was inneeded in the presence of varying levels of creased when diets containing dicoumarol coccidial infection is also lacking. were fed to chicks inoculated with E. The objectives of the studies undertenella oocysts. Tugwell, Stephens and taken were: (1) to determine the effects of Harms (1957) observed that shorter blood four levels of vitamin K on chicks inocuclotting times were accompanied by lower lated with 0, 50,000 and 500,000 sporupercentages of mortality in E. tenella inoculated pens of chicks fed a vitamin El- lated E. tenella oocysts, (2) to evaluate low diet supplemented with either one or hydrolyzed poultry litter and autoclaved 20 grams of menadione sodium bisulfite2 chicken feces as sources of vitamin K as per ton, or with 3 percent alfalfa leaf meal. measured by the reduction of mortality Otto et al. (1958) reported that exces- from cecal coccidiosis, and (3) to compare of the coccidiostatic drug, sive mortality from cecal coccidiosH was the efficacies 3 Nicarbazin, and four potential sources of prevented in chicks individually inocuvitamin K in the presence of cecal coccidiolated with either 50,000 or 500,000 sporusis. lated oocysts when diets were fed containing either three grams of menadione or one PROCEDURES gram of MSB per ton of feed. The prevenA total of 1,000 day-old chicks were emtion of excessive mortality was attributed ployed in a series of three trials. Lancaster to reduced hemorrhage when these maX New Hampshire chicks were used in the terials were supplied. first trial, Single Comb White Leghorn Almquist and Stockstad (1935) remales were used in the second trial, and 1 Published with the approval of Director, Ten- VantressXNichoPs 108 chicks were used
B
'Trade name of the complex 4,4'-dinitrocarbanilide and 2-hydroxy-4,6-dimethylpyrimidine. A product of Merck & Co., Inc.
1183
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nessee Agricultural Experiment Station. Presented at the 48th Annual Meeting of the Poultry Science Association, Ames, Iowa, August 4-7, 1959. 2 Klotogen F, trademark Abbott Laboratories. Hereafter referred to as MSB.
1184
J. F. STEPHENS AND R. L. TUGWELL TABLE 1.—Composition of basal diet Ingredient Yellow corn Soybean oil meal (50% protein) Defluorinated rock phosphate 1 Ground limestone Salt Vitamin mix2
Percent 65.7 31.0 1.0 1.2 0.5 0.6
1
Contains 34% calcium and 17% phosphorus. Contains per pound of feed: 0.9 mg. riboflavin, 2 mg. calcium pantothenate, 5 mg. niacin, 3 meg. vitamin B12, 250 mg. choline chloride, 1,737 I.U. vitamin A, 1,050 I.C.U. vitamin D 8 , 0.08 gms. MnSC>4, 2 mg. procaine penicillin, and 45 mg. arsanilic acid. 2
for the corresponding inoculated pens. Trial 2. Twenty-four pens of Single Comb White Leghorn male chicks (10 per pen) were used in the second trial. Six experimental treatments were employed, resulting in four pens of chicks being used with each treatment. Eight pens of chicks were fed the basal diet (Table 1). Four of these pens of chicks were not inoculated and served as the positive control. The four remaining diets were formed by adding to the basal diet: (1) 2.5 percent hydrolyzed poultry litter, (2) 2.5 percent feces from chicks fed the basal diet, (3) 2.5 percent feces from chicks fed the basal diet supplemented with 1.08 grams of MSB per ton of feed, and (4) autoclaved E. tenella oocysts in a 2 percent potassium dichromate solution equivalent to 25,000 oocysts per pound of feed. Feces used in this trial were collected from chicks employed in the preceeding trial. All feces were retained in a dry condition for 60 days following collection, then autoclaved (15 pounds pressure per square inch) for 20 minutes, dried in an oven at 100 degrees Centigrade, and finely ground prior to incorporation into the diets. Inoculated chicks received 50,000 sporulated E. tenella oocysts per bird.
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Carleton University on May 9, 2015
in the third trial. Chicks used in the first and third trials were sexed and an equal number of each sex placed at random in each pen. All chicks were reared in electrically heated battery brooders with raised woven-wire floors. Feed and water were available to the chicks ad libitum. Water troughs were washed and fresh water supplied daily in an effort to limit the synthesis of vitamin K. Individual body weights of all chicks were obtained at the end of the third and fifth weeks. Blood clotting times were determined for all chicks at the end of the third week regardless of subsequent treatment. In each trial, oral inoculations with sporulated E. tenella oocysts were made when chicks were three weeks of age. Blood clotting times were determined by the capillary tube method with blood obtained by puncturing the brachial vein. Each experiment was terminated at the end of the fifth week. The vitamin K-low diet of Tugwell, Stephens, and Harms (1957) was employed as the control diet in each trial. Statements of probability in this paper are based on analysis of variance according to Snedecor (1956) with significant treatment differences determined by Duncan's multiple range test (1955). Trial 1. Twenty-four pens of chicks (ten males and ten females per pen) were used in this trial. The four diets employed were formed by supplementing the vitamin K-low control diet with 0, 0.36, 1.08, and 9.72 grams of MSB per ton of feed. Chicks in four of the six pens receiving each diet were inoculated with sporulated oocysts of E. tenella. Chicks in two of these pens received 50,000 oocysts per bird, while those in the other two pens received 500,000 oocysts per bird. The remaining two pens of chicks fed each diet were not inoculated and served as positive controls
1185
VITAMIN K AND COCCIDIOSIS
TABLE 2.—Effect of quantity of menadione sodium bisulfite and number of oocysts upon blood clotting time and mortality from cecal coccidiosis —Trial 1 Grams of MSB/ton
Average blood clotting time
Number of oocysts/bird
seconds I 0.0 0.0 0.0 9.72 9.72 9.72 1.08 1.08 1.08 0.36 0.36 0.36
1,386 731 721 675
500,000 50,000 0.0 0.0 50,000 500,000 0.0 50,000 500,000 0.0 50,000 500,000
Mortality
percent 1 95.0 57.2 0.0 0.0 0.0 7.5 0.0 0.0 5.2 0.0 2.5 22.5
1 Means not grouped by the same line are significantly different (P < .05).
vitamin K activity for maintenance of "normal" blood clotting times. Levels of 1.08 and 9.72 grams of MSB per ton of diet prevented excessive mortality in chicks inoculated with either RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 50,000 or 500,000 E. tenella oocysts per Trial 1. Statistically significant differ- bird. ences (P<.05) were not found between Trial 2. Chicks fed diets containing blood clotting times of chicks fed the either hydrolyzed poultry litter or autobasal diet supplemented with 0.36, 1.08, claved feces had significantly shorter or 9.72 grams of MSB per ton of feed blood clotting times than did those fed (Table 2). Excessive mortality from cecal either the unsupplemented basal diet or coccidiosis in chicks inoculated with the basal diet containing autoclaved oo50,000 E. tenella oocysts was prevented cysts. Blood clotting times of chicks, fed when the basal diet was supplemented the basal diet supplemented with 2.5 perwith as little as 0.36 grams of MSB per cent feces from chicks fed the vitamin Kton of diet. However, chicks supplied the low basal diet, were longer than those of 0.36 gram per ton level of MSB suffered a chicks fed diets containing either 2.5 perhigher percent mortality when inoculated cent hydrolyzed poultry litter or 2.5 perwith 500,000 oocysts per bird than did cent feces from chicks fed the basal diet those supplied either 1.08 grams or 9.72 supplemented with MSB (Table 3). grams of MSB per ton of diet (Table 2). The percent mortality of inoculated This suggested that the 0.36 gram per ton chicks was unaffected when diets containlevel of MSB supplied a marginal level of ing autoclaved E. tenella oocysts or feces from chicks fed the unsupplemented basal 4 Supplied through the courtesy of J. D. Jewell, diet were fed. The percent mortality was significantly lower in pens of chicks fed Inc., Byproducts Division, Gainesville, Georgia.
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Carleton University on May 9, 2015
Trial 3. Twenty-eight pens of chicks (5 males and 5 females per pen) were used in the third trial. Seven diets were employed —the basal diet being altered to facilitate the addition of ingredients tested for vitamin K activity. Each diet was calculated to contain from 21.4 to 21.5 percent protein. Materials and levels of ingredients tested in the diets were: (1) 3 percent alfalfa meal, (2) 3 percent Menhaden fish meal, (3) 5 percent hydrolyzed poultry litter,4 (4) 0.0125 percent Nicarbazin, (5) one gram of MSB per ton of diet, and (6) a combination of one gram of MSB per ton of diet and 0.0125 percent Nicarbazin. The seventh diet consisted of the unsupplemented basal diet. Two of the four pens of chicks fed each diet were inoculated with 50,000 sporulated E. tenella oocysts per bird while the other two pens fed each diet were retained as controls.
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J. F. STEPHENS AND R. L. TUGWELL
T A B L E 3.—Effects of autoclaved feces, autoclmied E . tenella oocysts, and hydrolyzed chicken litter on blood clotting time and mortality from cecal coccidiosis—Trial 2 Average Treatment
Basal Non-Inoc. Basal—Inoc. Basal & Oocysts—Inoc. Basal & 2.5% Feces (0.0)*—Inoc. Basal & 2.5% Feces (1.08)3—Inoc. Basal & 2.5% Litter—Inoc.
T A B L E 4.—Effects of source of vitamin K and Nicarbazin upon blood clotting time and mortality from cecal coccidiosis—Trial 3
Diet
dotting time
MorhHty
seconds1 2,352 2,612 2,420 1,400 881 930
percent1 0.0 60.75 73.93 59.42 33.10 30.11
diets containing hydrolyzed poultry litter or feces of chicks fed the MSB supplemented diet than in pens fed any of the other diets (Table 3). These results indicate that it is extremely doubtful if adequate vitamin K may be obtained through the practice of coprophagy by chicks fed vitamin K-low diets. That very little synthesis of vitamin K occurs in the intestinal tract of the young chick is also indicated. Trial 3. Prolonged blood clotting times and excessive mortality from cecal coccidiosis were prevented by feeding chicks diets containing 3 percent alfalfa meal, 5 percent hydrolyzed poultry litter, a combination of one gram of MSB per ton of diet and 0.0125 percent Nicarbazin, and one gram of MSB per ton of diet, respectively (Table 4). Chicks fed the basal diet containing 0.0125 percent Nicarbazin were protected from excessive coccidial mortality even though the average blood clotting time was not significantly different from that of chicks fed the vitamin K-low basal diet (Table 4). Diets containing 3 percent fish meal failed to affect blood clotting times or mortality from cecal coccidiosis, indicating an absence of, or a low level of, vitamin K activity in this material. The two uninoculated pens fed each
Mortality
seconds1
percent1
402 438 445 471 1,942 1 2,228 || 2,764 |
0.0 10.5
5.3 10.0 5.0 89.5 93.7
1 Means not grouped by the same line are significantly different 2(P<.05). Altered to maintain 21.4 to 21.5 percent protein.
diet suffered no mortality and, therefore, mortality data for these lots are not shown in Table 4. The average weight of chicks fed diets containing Nicarbazin was significantly less than that of the basal-fed birds at the end of both the third and fifth weeks of age. Other significant differences in body weights of chicks fed the various diets were not found. SUMMARY
Prolonged blood clotting time and excessive mortality from cecal coccidiosis in chicks inoculated with 50,000 sporulated E. tenella oocysts per bird were prevented when a vitamin K-low diet supplemented with 0.36 grams of MSB per ton of feed was fed. Diets containing 1.08 or 9.72 grams of MSB per ton were more effective than the 0.36 gram per ton level in preventing mortality when chicks were inoculated with 500,000 oocysts per bird. Diets containing either 2.5 percent hydrolyzed poultry litter or 2.5 percent feces of chickens fed a vitamin K-supplemented diet were effective in preventing prolonged blood clotting time and excessive mortality from cecal coccidiosis in chicks inoculated with 50,000 E. tenella oocysts per bird. Chicks fed the basal diet supplemented with 2.5 percent autoclaved and dried feces from chicks fed a vitamin
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Carleton University on May 9, 2015
1 Means not grouped by the same line are significantly different 2(£/.05). Collected from chicks fed the unsupplemented basal diet. 3 Collected from chicks fed the basal diet supplemented with 1.08 grams of MSB per ton of feed.
Basal & .0125% Nicarbazin & 1 gm. Klotogen F per ton Basal22 & 3% Alfalfa Basal & 5% Litter Basal & 1 gm. Klotogen F per ton Basal & 0.0125% Nicarbazin Basal2Diet Basal & Fish Meal
Average blood clotting time
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VITAMIN K AND COCCIDIOSIS REFERENCES
Almquist, H. J., and E. L. R. Stokstad, 1935. Hemorrhagic chick disease of dietary origin. J. Biol. Chem. I l l : 105-113. Almquist, H. J., and E. L. R., Stokstad, 1936. Factors influencing the incidence of dietary hemorrhagic disease in chicks. J. Nutrition, 12:329-335. Anderson, G. C , J. H. Hare, J. K. Bletner, C. E. Weakly, Jr. and J. A. Mason, 1954. A hemorrhagic condition in chickens fed simplified rations. Poultry Sci. 33: 120-126. Baldwin, F. M., O. B. Wiswell and H. A. Jankiewicz, 1941. Hemorrhage control in chicks infected with Eimeria tenella when protected by antihemorrhagic factor, vitamin K. Proc. Soc. Exptl. Biol. Med. 48: 278-280. Duncan, D. B., 1955. Multiple range and multiple F tests. Biometrics, 11: 1-42. Harms, R. H., and R. L. Tugwell, 1956. The effect of experimentally induced prolonged blood clotting time on cecal coccidiosis of chicks. Poultry Sci. 35: 937-938. Otto, G. F., H. A. Jeske, D. V. Frost and H. S. Perdue, 1958. Menadione sodium bisulfite complex (Klotogen F) in cecal coccidiosis. Poultry Sci. 37: 201-205. Snedecor, G. W., 1956. Statistical Methods. Fifth Edition, The Iowa State College Press, Ames, Iowa. Tugwell, R. L., J. F. Stephens and R. H. Harms, 1957. The relationship of vitamin K to mortality from cecal coccidiosis. Poultry Sci. 36: 12451247.
NEWS AND NOTES {Continued from page 1158) ternationally-shown colour motion picture "When Chick Life Begins." Two contributions, in particular, have earned renown: The Avian Egg, co-authored with his wife, Anastasia J. Romanoff, published in 1949, and The Avian Embryo, published this year. After 20 years of exhaustive research, the Romanoffs wrote The Avian Egg for the purpose of making all known information on the subject available to scientists in one volume. Nearly 15,000 references were consulted in preparing the 1,000-page work. The 1,300-page volume, The Avian Embryo, represents an additional 10 years' work. In writing this book, Romanoff studied more than 7,000 original publications, some two-thirds of which were in languages other than English.
In a second book published this year, The University Campus, he has included some 80 poems concerning college days and the Cornell campus in particular. He and his work, have been the subject of several articles in popular and semi-popular national magazines, including The Saturday Evening Post, The Readers Digest, The New Yorker, Science Digest, and Scientific Illustrated. In 1950, he received the Borden Award of the Poultry Science Association. He is a Fellow of the New York Academy of Sciences and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and he is a member of the Poultry Science Association, the American Physiological Society, the American Chemical Society, the American Society
(Continued on page 122$)
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K-low diet had a shorter average blood clotting time than did the basal-fed birds. However, no difference in mortality from cecal coccidiosis was observed between these groups. Prolonged blood clotting time and excessive mortality from cecal coccidiosis of inoculated chicks were prevented when diets were fed containing 3 percent alfalfa meal, 5 percent hydrolyzed poultry litter, a combination of 0.0125 percent Nicarbazin and one gram of MSB per ton of diet, or one gram of MSB per ton of diet, respectively. Diets containing Nicarbazin effectively prevented excessive coccidial mortality in chicks having prolonged blood clotting times. Blood clotting times and mortality from cecal coccidiosis in inoculated chicks were unaffected by the feeding of diets containing Menhaden fish meal. Chicks fed diets containing Nicarbazin made less rapid weight gains than did those fed the basal diet. Growth rates, when compared with those of chicks fed the basal diet, were not significantly (P<.05) affected by the other diets employed in these trials.
Poultry Department, Tennessee Agricultural Experiment Station, Knoxville (Received for publication December 22, 1959)
INTRODUCTION
ported that fish meal, when washed and dried slowly, possessed antihemorrhagic ALDWIN, Wis well and Jankiewicz activity. Almquist and Stokstad (1936) (1941) reported that only one of ten and, later, Anderson et al. (1954) observed chickens given oral administrations of that chicken feces possessed vitamin K vitamin K died following individual inactivity. oculation with 6,000 sporulated oocysts of Reports are lacking in the literature reEimeria tenella. However, when no supplelating to the effectiveness of fish meal and mental vitamin K was given, seven of ten chicken feces in the prevention of mortalinoculated chicks died of cecal coccidiosis. ity from cecal coccidiosis. Information Harms and Tugwell (1956) reported that pertaining to the quantities of vitamin K mortality from cecal coccidiosis was inneeded in the presence of varying levels of creased when diets containing dicoumarol coccidial infection is also lacking. were fed to chicks inoculated with E. The objectives of the studies undertenella oocysts. Tugwell, Stephens and taken were: (1) to determine the effects of Harms (1957) observed that shorter blood four levels of vitamin K on chicks inocuclotting times were accompanied by lower lated with 0, 50,000 and 500,000 sporupercentages of mortality in E. tenella inoculated pens of chicks fed a vitamin El- lated E. tenella oocysts, (2) to evaluate low diet supplemented with either one or hydrolyzed poultry litter and autoclaved 20 grams of menadione sodium bisulfite2 chicken feces as sources of vitamin K as per ton, or with 3 percent alfalfa leaf meal. measured by the reduction of mortality Otto et al. (1958) reported that exces- from cecal coccidiosis, and (3) to compare of the coccidiostatic drug, sive mortality from cecal coccidiosH was the efficacies 3 Nicarbazin, and four potential sources of prevented in chicks individually inocuvitamin K in the presence of cecal coccidiolated with either 50,000 or 500,000 sporusis. lated oocysts when diets were fed containing either three grams of menadione or one PROCEDURES gram of MSB per ton of feed. The prevenA total of 1,000 day-old chicks were emtion of excessive mortality was attributed ployed in a series of three trials. Lancaster to reduced hemorrhage when these maX New Hampshire chicks were used in the terials were supplied. first trial, Single Comb White Leghorn Almquist and Stockstad (1935) remales were used in the second trial, and 1 Published with the approval of Director, Ten- VantressXNichoPs 108 chicks were used
B
'Trade name of the complex 4,4'-dinitrocarbanilide and 2-hydroxy-4,6-dimethylpyrimidine. A product of Merck & Co., Inc.
1183
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Carleton University on May 9, 2015
nessee Agricultural Experiment Station. Presented at the 48th Annual Meeting of the Poultry Science Association, Ames, Iowa, August 4-7, 1959. 2 Klotogen F, trademark Abbott Laboratories. Hereafter referred to as MSB.
1184
J. F. STEPHENS AND R. L. TUGWELL TABLE 1.—Composition of basal diet Ingredient Yellow corn Soybean oil meal (50% protein) Defluorinated rock phosphate 1 Ground limestone Salt Vitamin mix2
Percent 65.7 31.0 1.0 1.2 0.5 0.6
1
Contains 34% calcium and 17% phosphorus. Contains per pound of feed: 0.9 mg. riboflavin, 2 mg. calcium pantothenate, 5 mg. niacin, 3 meg. vitamin B12, 250 mg. choline chloride, 1,737 I.U. vitamin A, 1,050 I.C.U. vitamin D 8 , 0.08 gms. MnSC>4, 2 mg. procaine penicillin, and 45 mg. arsanilic acid. 2
for the corresponding inoculated pens. Trial 2. Twenty-four pens of Single Comb White Leghorn male chicks (10 per pen) were used in the second trial. Six experimental treatments were employed, resulting in four pens of chicks being used with each treatment. Eight pens of chicks were fed the basal diet (Table 1). Four of these pens of chicks were not inoculated and served as the positive control. The four remaining diets were formed by adding to the basal diet: (1) 2.5 percent hydrolyzed poultry litter, (2) 2.5 percent feces from chicks fed the basal diet, (3) 2.5 percent feces from chicks fed the basal diet supplemented with 1.08 grams of MSB per ton of feed, and (4) autoclaved E. tenella oocysts in a 2 percent potassium dichromate solution equivalent to 25,000 oocysts per pound of feed. Feces used in this trial were collected from chicks employed in the preceeding trial. All feces were retained in a dry condition for 60 days following collection, then autoclaved (15 pounds pressure per square inch) for 20 minutes, dried in an oven at 100 degrees Centigrade, and finely ground prior to incorporation into the diets. Inoculated chicks received 50,000 sporulated E. tenella oocysts per bird.
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Carleton University on May 9, 2015
in the third trial. Chicks used in the first and third trials were sexed and an equal number of each sex placed at random in each pen. All chicks were reared in electrically heated battery brooders with raised woven-wire floors. Feed and water were available to the chicks ad libitum. Water troughs were washed and fresh water supplied daily in an effort to limit the synthesis of vitamin K. Individual body weights of all chicks were obtained at the end of the third and fifth weeks. Blood clotting times were determined for all chicks at the end of the third week regardless of subsequent treatment. In each trial, oral inoculations with sporulated E. tenella oocysts were made when chicks were three weeks of age. Blood clotting times were determined by the capillary tube method with blood obtained by puncturing the brachial vein. Each experiment was terminated at the end of the fifth week. The vitamin K-low diet of Tugwell, Stephens, and Harms (1957) was employed as the control diet in each trial. Statements of probability in this paper are based on analysis of variance according to Snedecor (1956) with significant treatment differences determined by Duncan's multiple range test (1955). Trial 1. Twenty-four pens of chicks (ten males and ten females per pen) were used in this trial. The four diets employed were formed by supplementing the vitamin K-low control diet with 0, 0.36, 1.08, and 9.72 grams of MSB per ton of feed. Chicks in four of the six pens receiving each diet were inoculated with sporulated oocysts of E. tenella. Chicks in two of these pens received 50,000 oocysts per bird, while those in the other two pens received 500,000 oocysts per bird. The remaining two pens of chicks fed each diet were not inoculated and served as positive controls
1185
VITAMIN K AND COCCIDIOSIS
TABLE 2.—Effect of quantity of menadione sodium bisulfite and number of oocysts upon blood clotting time and mortality from cecal coccidiosis —Trial 1 Grams of MSB/ton
Average blood clotting time
Number of oocysts/bird
seconds I 0.0 0.0 0.0 9.72 9.72 9.72 1.08 1.08 1.08 0.36 0.36 0.36
1,386 731 721 675
500,000 50,000 0.0 0.0 50,000 500,000 0.0 50,000 500,000 0.0 50,000 500,000
Mortality
percent 1 95.0 57.2 0.0 0.0 0.0 7.5 0.0 0.0 5.2 0.0 2.5 22.5
1 Means not grouped by the same line are significantly different (P < .05).
vitamin K activity for maintenance of "normal" blood clotting times. Levels of 1.08 and 9.72 grams of MSB per ton of diet prevented excessive mortality in chicks inoculated with either RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 50,000 or 500,000 E. tenella oocysts per Trial 1. Statistically significant differ- bird. ences (P<.05) were not found between Trial 2. Chicks fed diets containing blood clotting times of chicks fed the either hydrolyzed poultry litter or autobasal diet supplemented with 0.36, 1.08, claved feces had significantly shorter or 9.72 grams of MSB per ton of feed blood clotting times than did those fed (Table 2). Excessive mortality from cecal either the unsupplemented basal diet or coccidiosis in chicks inoculated with the basal diet containing autoclaved oo50,000 E. tenella oocysts was prevented cysts. Blood clotting times of chicks, fed when the basal diet was supplemented the basal diet supplemented with 2.5 perwith as little as 0.36 grams of MSB per cent feces from chicks fed the vitamin Kton of diet. However, chicks supplied the low basal diet, were longer than those of 0.36 gram per ton level of MSB suffered a chicks fed diets containing either 2.5 perhigher percent mortality when inoculated cent hydrolyzed poultry litter or 2.5 perwith 500,000 oocysts per bird than did cent feces from chicks fed the basal diet those supplied either 1.08 grams or 9.72 supplemented with MSB (Table 3). grams of MSB per ton of diet (Table 2). The percent mortality of inoculated This suggested that the 0.36 gram per ton chicks was unaffected when diets containlevel of MSB supplied a marginal level of ing autoclaved E. tenella oocysts or feces from chicks fed the unsupplemented basal 4 Supplied through the courtesy of J. D. Jewell, diet were fed. The percent mortality was significantly lower in pens of chicks fed Inc., Byproducts Division, Gainesville, Georgia.
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Carleton University on May 9, 2015
Trial 3. Twenty-eight pens of chicks (5 males and 5 females per pen) were used in the third trial. Seven diets were employed —the basal diet being altered to facilitate the addition of ingredients tested for vitamin K activity. Each diet was calculated to contain from 21.4 to 21.5 percent protein. Materials and levels of ingredients tested in the diets were: (1) 3 percent alfalfa meal, (2) 3 percent Menhaden fish meal, (3) 5 percent hydrolyzed poultry litter,4 (4) 0.0125 percent Nicarbazin, (5) one gram of MSB per ton of diet, and (6) a combination of one gram of MSB per ton of diet and 0.0125 percent Nicarbazin. The seventh diet consisted of the unsupplemented basal diet. Two of the four pens of chicks fed each diet were inoculated with 50,000 sporulated E. tenella oocysts per bird while the other two pens fed each diet were retained as controls.
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J. F. STEPHENS AND R. L. TUGWELL
T A B L E 3.—Effects of autoclaved feces, autoclmied E . tenella oocysts, and hydrolyzed chicken litter on blood clotting time and mortality from cecal coccidiosis—Trial 2 Average Treatment
Basal Non-Inoc. Basal—Inoc. Basal & Oocysts—Inoc. Basal & 2.5% Feces (0.0)*—Inoc. Basal & 2.5% Feces (1.08)3—Inoc. Basal & 2.5% Litter—Inoc.
T A B L E 4.—Effects of source of vitamin K and Nicarbazin upon blood clotting time and mortality from cecal coccidiosis—Trial 3
Diet
dotting time
MorhHty
seconds1 2,352 2,612 2,420 1,400 881 930
percent1 0.0 60.75 73.93 59.42 33.10 30.11
diets containing hydrolyzed poultry litter or feces of chicks fed the MSB supplemented diet than in pens fed any of the other diets (Table 3). These results indicate that it is extremely doubtful if adequate vitamin K may be obtained through the practice of coprophagy by chicks fed vitamin K-low diets. That very little synthesis of vitamin K occurs in the intestinal tract of the young chick is also indicated. Trial 3. Prolonged blood clotting times and excessive mortality from cecal coccidiosis were prevented by feeding chicks diets containing 3 percent alfalfa meal, 5 percent hydrolyzed poultry litter, a combination of one gram of MSB per ton of diet and 0.0125 percent Nicarbazin, and one gram of MSB per ton of diet, respectively (Table 4). Chicks fed the basal diet containing 0.0125 percent Nicarbazin were protected from excessive coccidial mortality even though the average blood clotting time was not significantly different from that of chicks fed the vitamin K-low basal diet (Table 4). Diets containing 3 percent fish meal failed to affect blood clotting times or mortality from cecal coccidiosis, indicating an absence of, or a low level of, vitamin K activity in this material. The two uninoculated pens fed each
Mortality
seconds1
percent1
402 438 445 471 1,942 1 2,228 || 2,764 |
0.0 10.5
5.3 10.0 5.0 89.5 93.7
1 Means not grouped by the same line are significantly different 2(P<.05). Altered to maintain 21.4 to 21.5 percent protein.
diet suffered no mortality and, therefore, mortality data for these lots are not shown in Table 4. The average weight of chicks fed diets containing Nicarbazin was significantly less than that of the basal-fed birds at the end of both the third and fifth weeks of age. Other significant differences in body weights of chicks fed the various diets were not found. SUMMARY
Prolonged blood clotting time and excessive mortality from cecal coccidiosis in chicks inoculated with 50,000 sporulated E. tenella oocysts per bird were prevented when a vitamin K-low diet supplemented with 0.36 grams of MSB per ton of feed was fed. Diets containing 1.08 or 9.72 grams of MSB per ton were more effective than the 0.36 gram per ton level in preventing mortality when chicks were inoculated with 500,000 oocysts per bird. Diets containing either 2.5 percent hydrolyzed poultry litter or 2.5 percent feces of chickens fed a vitamin K-supplemented diet were effective in preventing prolonged blood clotting time and excessive mortality from cecal coccidiosis in chicks inoculated with 50,000 E. tenella oocysts per bird. Chicks fed the basal diet supplemented with 2.5 percent autoclaved and dried feces from chicks fed a vitamin
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1 Means not grouped by the same line are significantly different 2(£/.05). Collected from chicks fed the unsupplemented basal diet. 3 Collected from chicks fed the basal diet supplemented with 1.08 grams of MSB per ton of feed.
Basal & .0125% Nicarbazin & 1 gm. Klotogen F per ton Basal22 & 3% Alfalfa Basal & 5% Litter Basal & 1 gm. Klotogen F per ton Basal & 0.0125% Nicarbazin Basal2Diet Basal & Fish Meal
Average blood clotting time
1187
VITAMIN K AND COCCIDIOSIS REFERENCES
Almquist, H. J., and E. L. R. Stokstad, 1935. Hemorrhagic chick disease of dietary origin. J. Biol. Chem. I l l : 105-113. Almquist, H. J., and E. L. R., Stokstad, 1936. Factors influencing the incidence of dietary hemorrhagic disease in chicks. J. Nutrition, 12:329-335. Anderson, G. C , J. H. Hare, J. K. Bletner, C. E. Weakly, Jr. and J. A. Mason, 1954. A hemorrhagic condition in chickens fed simplified rations. Poultry Sci. 33: 120-126. Baldwin, F. M., O. B. Wiswell and H. A. Jankiewicz, 1941. Hemorrhage control in chicks infected with Eimeria tenella when protected by antihemorrhagic factor, vitamin K. Proc. Soc. Exptl. Biol. Med. 48: 278-280. Duncan, D. B., 1955. Multiple range and multiple F tests. Biometrics, 11: 1-42. Harms, R. H., and R. L. Tugwell, 1956. The effect of experimentally induced prolonged blood clotting time on cecal coccidiosis of chicks. Poultry Sci. 35: 937-938. Otto, G. F., H. A. Jeske, D. V. Frost and H. S. Perdue, 1958. Menadione sodium bisulfite complex (Klotogen F) in cecal coccidiosis. Poultry Sci. 37: 201-205. Snedecor, G. W., 1956. Statistical Methods. Fifth Edition, The Iowa State College Press, Ames, Iowa. Tugwell, R. L., J. F. Stephens and R. H. Harms, 1957. The relationship of vitamin K to mortality from cecal coccidiosis. Poultry Sci. 36: 12451247.
NEWS AND NOTES {Continued from page 1158) ternationally-shown colour motion picture "When Chick Life Begins." Two contributions, in particular, have earned renown: The Avian Egg, co-authored with his wife, Anastasia J. Romanoff, published in 1949, and The Avian Embryo, published this year. After 20 years of exhaustive research, the Romanoffs wrote The Avian Egg for the purpose of making all known information on the subject available to scientists in one volume. Nearly 15,000 references were consulted in preparing the 1,000-page work. The 1,300-page volume, The Avian Embryo, represents an additional 10 years' work. In writing this book, Romanoff studied more than 7,000 original publications, some two-thirds of which were in languages other than English.
In a second book published this year, The University Campus, he has included some 80 poems concerning college days and the Cornell campus in particular. He and his work, have been the subject of several articles in popular and semi-popular national magazines, including The Saturday Evening Post, The Readers Digest, The New Yorker, Science Digest, and Scientific Illustrated. In 1950, he received the Borden Award of the Poultry Science Association. He is a Fellow of the New York Academy of Sciences and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and he is a member of the Poultry Science Association, the American Physiological Society, the American Chemical Society, the American Society
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K-low diet had a shorter average blood clotting time than did the basal-fed birds. However, no difference in mortality from cecal coccidiosis was observed between these groups. Prolonged blood clotting time and excessive mortality from cecal coccidiosis of inoculated chicks were prevented when diets were fed containing 3 percent alfalfa meal, 5 percent hydrolyzed poultry litter, a combination of 0.0125 percent Nicarbazin and one gram of MSB per ton of diet, or one gram of MSB per ton of diet, respectively. Diets containing Nicarbazin effectively prevented excessive coccidial mortality in chicks having prolonged blood clotting times. Blood clotting times and mortality from cecal coccidiosis in inoculated chicks were unaffected by the feeding of diets containing Menhaden fish meal. Chicks fed diets containing Nicarbazin made less rapid weight gains than did those fed the basal diet. Growth rates, when compared with those of chicks fed the basal diet, were not significantly (P<.05) affected by the other diets employed in these trials.