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Supplemental Methionine in the Diet and Growth of Parasitized Chicks1
Supplemental Methionine in the Diet and Growth of Parasitized Chicks1 A. C.
TODD
Department of Animal Pathology, Kentucky Agricultural Experiment Station, Lexington, Kentucky (Received for publication February 8,1951)
1
The investigation reported in this paper is in connection with a project of the Kentucky Agricultural Experiment Station and is published by permission of the Director.
that energy employed in resistance to infection with par;asites inhibits maximum, efficient production, Todd and Hansen (1951). Which is to say, that animals with capacity for high active resistance to parasites are not as efficient in production after exposure. Animals fed better diets almost invariably are found to be harboring more parasitic worms than animals fed poorer diets, assuming opportunity for exposure to infection is approximately equal. Better diets appear to enable animals to tolerate greater worm parasite burdens. In measuring development of a worm parasite in animals fed a supplemented ration, more and larger specimens would be expected in those animals than in control animals fed a basal ration only. The implication that interference with normal weight gains will not obtain in either group, as a result of parasitism, should not be derived from the above statements, however. By definition, the animals exposed to parasites must sustain resultant injury which is expressed in production by failure to gain weight properly. The essential nature of methionine for growth and maintenance of chicks has been demonstrated by a number of laboratories. The addition of methionine to certain incomplete proteins has increased their usefulness in poultry rations. Bolin et al. (1946) obtained increased chick growth when 0.3 percent methionine was added to pea and meat meal ration;
820
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Michigan State University on April 11, 2015
/ ~ \ N E outgrowth of the nutritional re^ - ' search which elaborates the essential nature of certain food compounds for animal growth and maintenance has been the stimulation of inquiries directed toward determining relationships between adequate diets and animal ability to resist, or to tolerate, effects of parasitic infection. At the present time domestic animals achieve their production in spite of parasitic infections, although, and on the other hand, little concrete evidence exists which indicates that the growth rates of domestic animals entirely free from parasitic infection are superior to those of parasitized animals. The majority of the parasites of domestic animals have been known for nearly fifty years and the majority of: animal parasitologists now recognize, perhaps, that domestic animals suffer near universal exposure to, and near universal infection by, parasites. In this latter connection, and in reference to certain worm parasites of the digestive tract of domestic animals in particular, there has been a slow development of an understanding that the mere presence of parasitic worms in a host is not prima facie evidence of helminthiasis. When effects of parasitic infection upon the host animal are considered in relation to production, there is apparent evidence
METHIONINE AND GROWTH OF PARASITIZED CHICKS
the low methionine content of pea protein was demonstrated by Peterson et al. (1944). Bolin and his later co-workers (1951) concluded that methionine added to a pea-meat meal ration had increased the utilization of other amino acids. The present parasitological experiments were undertaken to test ability of chicks fed added methionine to withstand infection by the large intestinal roundworm of chickens, Ascaridia galli.
Ground yellow com Ground wheat Soybean oil meal Alfalfa meal Dried whey Meat scraps (55 percent protein) Steamed bone meal Limestone salt •-..: Cod liver oil (400 D) Manganese sulfate
27 36 17 2 9 5 1 1.5 i 0.5 6 gm.
Methionine added to the commercial ration at the rate of 0.9 percent formed the test ration in the first two experiments. In the third experiment two methionine rations were used: one had 0.9 percent methionine added and the second had 1.8 percent methionine added.
The DL-methionine was furnished by Merck & Company. In the first experiment chicks tested were 47 days old when exposed to infection; the birds fed methionine had access to their ration for seven days prior to exposure. In the second experiment chicks tested were 19 days old at exposure and those fed the methionine ration had access to their ration for three days prior to exposure. In the third experiment birds were exposed at 14 days of age and the two groups fed the methionine rations received this feed for one day prior to exposure. All three experiments were ended three weeks after exposure when the birds were weighed and given postmortem examination. Each exposed bird was given 50± infective Ascaridia galli eggs; the A. galli eggs were obtained from prepared cultures. In each test all birds exposed to infection were given A. galli eggs of the same age from one large culture. At postmortem worms found in the exposed birds were collected, counted, and measured. The data sought from three experiments were weight gains of exposed birds fed the basal ration vs. the methionine rations, and numbers and lengths of worms collected from exposed birds fed the basal vs. the methionine rations. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
In the first test, Table 1, the 36 birds fed the methionine ration averaged 9.3 gm. greater weight gain in the threeweek test period, and, on average at postmortem were carrying 1.8 more worms. The 123 whole worms recovered from chicks fed the basal ration averaged 18.95 mm. long, however, while 188 whole worms recovered from chicks fed the methionine-supplemented ration averaged 16.14 mm. long. In this experiment the greater weight gains of birds fed the
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Michigan State University on April 11, 2015
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Chicks used in the experiments were New Hampshires obtained as day-old birds. They were vaccinated against Newcastle disease at one day of age and wing-banded at one week of age. They were started in electric battery brooders and transferred to growing batteries after they feathered. In the first two experiments chicks were fed a commercial starting ration; in the third experiment chicks were fed a starting ration made from a formula furnished by the Poultry Department of this Experiment Station. The Kentucky formula was as follows:
821
822
A. C. TODD
fed the basal ration averaged 20.35 mm. long; the 190 whole worms collected from birds fed the methionine ration had a mean length of 20.29 mm. A number of sources of variation between the first two experiments were obvious. Chicks in the second experiment were roughly three weeks younger at exposure than the chicks in the first experiment. They represented a separate hatch of the same commercial hatchery. Chicks in the second experiment were
TABLE 1.—Weight gains and worms recovered from experimental birds Test
Nature of group
Number birds
Mean weight gam (gm-)
Mean number worms recovered
Mean worm length (mm.)
1
Basal, exposed Methionine, exposed
35 36
463.2 472.6
3.69 5.47
18.95 16.14
2
Basal, controls Basal, exposed Methionine, exposed Methionine, controls
10 40 39 10
342.8 310.9 291.6 308.8
7.85 5.15
20.35 20.29
—
Basal, controls Basal, exposed Methionine, controls 1 Methionine, exposed1 Methionine, controls2 Methionine, exposed2
10 39 10 40 10 39
311.0 285.8 290.9 291.7 245.2 227.8
— —.
6.28
19.67
3
1 2
—
—
9.40
—
8.00
—
23.45
—
23.69
Fed 0.9 percent methionine. Fed 1.8 percent methionine.
chicks was in worm lengths. The average 2.8 mm. greater length of worms from chicks fed the basal ration exceeded the one percent level of significance. The second test yielded results which were almost the direct reverse of the first test, Table 1. The exposed birds on the basal ration gained an average of 19.3 gm. more weight than exposed birds fed the methionine ration; the ten basal controls averaged 34 gm. heavier than the ten methionine controls. Exposed birds fed the basal ration had an average of 7.85 worms; exposed birds fed the methionine ration had an average of 5.15 worms. The 302 whole worms collected from birds
largely fed from a new supply of the same commercial chick starter. The infective A. galli eggs were from the same culture, but were nearly six weeks older for the second experiment. Because most sources of differences seemed minor in comparison with the possibility of variation in methionine content of the commercial chick starter, a third test was devised. The third test was conducted with one supply of the Kentucky chick starter ration. In the third test, Table 1, exposed chicks fed the basal ration had a mean weight gain of 285.8 gm. in the threeweek test period. The exposed chicks fed a ration with 0.9 percent added methio-
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Michigan State University on April 11, 2015
methionine ration, and the fact that they permitted more worms to develop, led to the expectation that worms grown in these chicks would be larger than worms grown in chicks fed the basal ration. The reverse was true. When individual chick weight gains, numbers of worms present at postmortem, and the individual lengths of worms recovered were submitted to separate analyses of variance, it was found that the only significant difference between the two groups of test
METHIONINE AND GROWTH OF PARASITIZED CHICKS
more and larger worms developed in the two groups of birds fed added methionine appears of certain parasitological importance, particularly in birds fed 0.9 percent methionine. These birds tolerated greater numbers of worms than did birds fed the basal ration, and, at the same time, achieved equal weight gains. From the nutritional side of the experiment, the data might well be interpreted to indicate that added methionine enables birds to attain superior growth rates up to a point where the amount of methionine needed for growth and maintenance is satisfied. An excess of methionine in the birds fed 1.8 percent methionine produced a distinctly unfavorable response, both in the non-parasitized and parasitized birds. The nonexposed controls gained an average of 66.0 gm. less than the controls fed the basal ration and 45.7 gm. less than the controls fed 0.9 percent methionine. The exposed birds fed 1.8 percent methionine gained 58.0 gm. less than the exposed birds fed the basal ration and 63.8 gm. less than exposed birds fed 0.9 percent methionine. The differences between amounts of weight gained by the three groups of control birds approached significance at the five percent level in an analysis of variance. Differences between the weight gains of the two groups of exposed birds fed the basal and 0.9 percent methionine ration versus the exposed birds fed 1.8 percent methionine exceeded the one percent level of significance. SUMMARY
A series of three tests have been conducted with methionine-supplemented diets for 2-10 week old New Hampshire chicks infected by the large intestinal roundworm, Ascaridia galli. The experiments were undertaken to determine whether chicks fed such diets
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Michigan State University on April 11, 2015
nine had a mean gain of 291.7 gm., while the exposed chicks fed a ration with 1.8 percent added methionine had a mean gain of 227.8 gm. On average, 6.3 worms were recovered from chicks fed the basal ration, 9.4 worms from chicks fed 0.9 percent added methionine, and 8.0 worms from chicks fed 1.8 percent added methionine. The smallest worms, on average, were recovered from chicks fed the basal ration; these worms had a mean length of 19.67 mm. Worms from chicks fed 0.9 percent methionine averaged 23.45 mm. long while the worms from chicks fed 1.8 percent methionine had a mean length of 23.69 mm. The weight gains of the nonexposed controls reflected the weight gains of the three groups of exposed birds. The controls fed the basal ration had a mean gain of 311.0 gm. Controls fed 0.9 percent added methionine had a mean gain of 290.9 gm. while those fed 1.8 percent added methionine had a mean gain of 245.2 gm. In chicks fed the basal ration only, and in the chicks fed 1.8 percent methionine, the controls outgained the exposed birds by 25.2 and 17.4 gm., respectively. Weight gains of birds fed 0.9 percent methionine were 290.9 gm. for the ten controls and 291.7 gm. for the forty exposed birds. If it is assumed that 0.9 percent methionine added to the basal ration provided an improved diet, then the parasitological findings are of interest. Exposed chicks fed 0.9 percent methionine gained 5.9 gm. more weight on average than exposed birds fed the basal ration only, yet were carrying more and larger worms at postmortem. In an analysis of variance the mean lengths of whole worms from the two groups of birds fed added methionine were significantly larger than birds fed the basal ration only. The F value obtained exceeded the one percent level of significance. The fact that
823
824
ASSOCIATION NOTES
nine were significantly inferior to those of exposed and nonexposed birds fed the basal ration or fed the 0.9 percent added methionine ration. REFERENCES Bolin, D. W., C. F. Peterson, C. E. Lampman and O. E. Stamberg, 1946. Chick growth response resulting from methionine additions to various protein supplements with pea protein. Poultry Sci. 25:157-161. Bolin, D. W., E. W. Klosterman, L. Butler, K. Schlamb and R. Bryant, 1951. Effect of delayed methionine supplementation in chick ration. Poultry Sci. 30:42-46. Peterson, C. F., C. E. Lampman, D. W. Bolin and O. E. Stamberg, 1944. Methionine deficiency of Alaska field peas for chick growth. Poultry Sci. 23: 287-293. Todd, A. C, and M. F. Hansen, 1951. On the economic import of host resistance to helminth infection. Am. J. Vet. Res. 12: 58-64.
Association Notes (Continued from page 814)
was published by the Cambridge University Press. In addition to the Poultry Science Association, Dr. Lerner is a member of the World's Poultry Science Association, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Genetics Society of America, the American Society of Zoologists, the Society of Development and Growth, the Biometrics Society, the Society for the Study of Evolution, the American Society of Animal Production and Sigma Xi. A.F.M.A: AWARD
The American Feed Manufacturers' Association award, instituted by the Nutrition Council, of one thousand dollars was presented to Dr. J. Russell Couch, Professor of Poultry Nutrition and Bio-
chemistry, Department of Poultry Husbandry, Texas Agricultural and Mechanical College System, College Station, Texas. The citation read, in part, as follows: "during 1949 and 1950 Dr. Couch and his collaborators published sixteen articles in various scientific journals describing their research in poultry nutrition including studies of biotin, insulin, lactose, folic acid, vitamin B12 and antibiotics. His studies have contributed substantially to knowledge of the effect of folic acid and vitamin B12 in the nutrition and biochemistry of chickens." The presentation of the award on behalf of the Nutrition Council of the can Feed Manufacturers' Association was made by W. C. Berger. Dr. Couch was born on a farm near Alvarado, Texas, in 1909, and graduated
(Continued on page 828)
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Michigan State University on April 11, 2015
could better withstand the effects of parasitism,* as evidenced by superior growth rates when compared with growth rates of infected chicks fed the basal ration only. No consistent evidence was found to support such a conclusion. In the final experiment of the series in which the methionine content of three test rations was in an apparent progressive series, more and larger worms developed in birds fed the 0.9 percent methionine-supplemented diet than developed in birds fed the basal ration only. Fewer but equally large worms developed in birds fed the 1.8 percent methioninesupplemented diet than did in birds fed 0.9 percent methionine. Growth rates of exposed and nonexposed birds fed 1.8 percent added methio-
TODD
Department of Animal Pathology, Kentucky Agricultural Experiment Station, Lexington, Kentucky (Received for publication February 8,1951)
1
The investigation reported in this paper is in connection with a project of the Kentucky Agricultural Experiment Station and is published by permission of the Director.
that energy employed in resistance to infection with par;asites inhibits maximum, efficient production, Todd and Hansen (1951). Which is to say, that animals with capacity for high active resistance to parasites are not as efficient in production after exposure. Animals fed better diets almost invariably are found to be harboring more parasitic worms than animals fed poorer diets, assuming opportunity for exposure to infection is approximately equal. Better diets appear to enable animals to tolerate greater worm parasite burdens. In measuring development of a worm parasite in animals fed a supplemented ration, more and larger specimens would be expected in those animals than in control animals fed a basal ration only. The implication that interference with normal weight gains will not obtain in either group, as a result of parasitism, should not be derived from the above statements, however. By definition, the animals exposed to parasites must sustain resultant injury which is expressed in production by failure to gain weight properly. The essential nature of methionine for growth and maintenance of chicks has been demonstrated by a number of laboratories. The addition of methionine to certain incomplete proteins has increased their usefulness in poultry rations. Bolin et al. (1946) obtained increased chick growth when 0.3 percent methionine was added to pea and meat meal ration;
820
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Michigan State University on April 11, 2015
/ ~ \ N E outgrowth of the nutritional re^ - ' search which elaborates the essential nature of certain food compounds for animal growth and maintenance has been the stimulation of inquiries directed toward determining relationships between adequate diets and animal ability to resist, or to tolerate, effects of parasitic infection. At the present time domestic animals achieve their production in spite of parasitic infections, although, and on the other hand, little concrete evidence exists which indicates that the growth rates of domestic animals entirely free from parasitic infection are superior to those of parasitized animals. The majority of the parasites of domestic animals have been known for nearly fifty years and the majority of: animal parasitologists now recognize, perhaps, that domestic animals suffer near universal exposure to, and near universal infection by, parasites. In this latter connection, and in reference to certain worm parasites of the digestive tract of domestic animals in particular, there has been a slow development of an understanding that the mere presence of parasitic worms in a host is not prima facie evidence of helminthiasis. When effects of parasitic infection upon the host animal are considered in relation to production, there is apparent evidence
METHIONINE AND GROWTH OF PARASITIZED CHICKS
the low methionine content of pea protein was demonstrated by Peterson et al. (1944). Bolin and his later co-workers (1951) concluded that methionine added to a pea-meat meal ration had increased the utilization of other amino acids. The present parasitological experiments were undertaken to test ability of chicks fed added methionine to withstand infection by the large intestinal roundworm of chickens, Ascaridia galli.
Ground yellow com Ground wheat Soybean oil meal Alfalfa meal Dried whey Meat scraps (55 percent protein) Steamed bone meal Limestone salt •-..: Cod liver oil (400 D) Manganese sulfate
27 36 17 2 9 5 1 1.5 i 0.5 6 gm.
Methionine added to the commercial ration at the rate of 0.9 percent formed the test ration in the first two experiments. In the third experiment two methionine rations were used: one had 0.9 percent methionine added and the second had 1.8 percent methionine added.
The DL-methionine was furnished by Merck & Company. In the first experiment chicks tested were 47 days old when exposed to infection; the birds fed methionine had access to their ration for seven days prior to exposure. In the second experiment chicks tested were 19 days old at exposure and those fed the methionine ration had access to their ration for three days prior to exposure. In the third experiment birds were exposed at 14 days of age and the two groups fed the methionine rations received this feed for one day prior to exposure. All three experiments were ended three weeks after exposure when the birds were weighed and given postmortem examination. Each exposed bird was given 50± infective Ascaridia galli eggs; the A. galli eggs were obtained from prepared cultures. In each test all birds exposed to infection were given A. galli eggs of the same age from one large culture. At postmortem worms found in the exposed birds were collected, counted, and measured. The data sought from three experiments were weight gains of exposed birds fed the basal ration vs. the methionine rations, and numbers and lengths of worms collected from exposed birds fed the basal vs. the methionine rations. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
In the first test, Table 1, the 36 birds fed the methionine ration averaged 9.3 gm. greater weight gain in the threeweek test period, and, on average at postmortem were carrying 1.8 more worms. The 123 whole worms recovered from chicks fed the basal ration averaged 18.95 mm. long, however, while 188 whole worms recovered from chicks fed the methionine-supplemented ration averaged 16.14 mm. long. In this experiment the greater weight gains of birds fed the
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Michigan State University on April 11, 2015
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Chicks used in the experiments were New Hampshires obtained as day-old birds. They were vaccinated against Newcastle disease at one day of age and wing-banded at one week of age. They were started in electric battery brooders and transferred to growing batteries after they feathered. In the first two experiments chicks were fed a commercial starting ration; in the third experiment chicks were fed a starting ration made from a formula furnished by the Poultry Department of this Experiment Station. The Kentucky formula was as follows:
821
822
A. C. TODD
fed the basal ration averaged 20.35 mm. long; the 190 whole worms collected from birds fed the methionine ration had a mean length of 20.29 mm. A number of sources of variation between the first two experiments were obvious. Chicks in the second experiment were roughly three weeks younger at exposure than the chicks in the first experiment. They represented a separate hatch of the same commercial hatchery. Chicks in the second experiment were
TABLE 1.—Weight gains and worms recovered from experimental birds Test
Nature of group
Number birds
Mean weight gam (gm-)
Mean number worms recovered
Mean worm length (mm.)
1
Basal, exposed Methionine, exposed
35 36
463.2 472.6
3.69 5.47
18.95 16.14
2
Basal, controls Basal, exposed Methionine, exposed Methionine, controls
10 40 39 10
342.8 310.9 291.6 308.8
7.85 5.15
20.35 20.29
—
Basal, controls Basal, exposed Methionine, controls 1 Methionine, exposed1 Methionine, controls2 Methionine, exposed2
10 39 10 40 10 39
311.0 285.8 290.9 291.7 245.2 227.8
— —.
6.28
19.67
3
1 2
—
—
9.40
—
8.00
—
23.45
—
23.69
Fed 0.9 percent methionine. Fed 1.8 percent methionine.
chicks was in worm lengths. The average 2.8 mm. greater length of worms from chicks fed the basal ration exceeded the one percent level of significance. The second test yielded results which were almost the direct reverse of the first test, Table 1. The exposed birds on the basal ration gained an average of 19.3 gm. more weight than exposed birds fed the methionine ration; the ten basal controls averaged 34 gm. heavier than the ten methionine controls. Exposed birds fed the basal ration had an average of 7.85 worms; exposed birds fed the methionine ration had an average of 5.15 worms. The 302 whole worms collected from birds
largely fed from a new supply of the same commercial chick starter. The infective A. galli eggs were from the same culture, but were nearly six weeks older for the second experiment. Because most sources of differences seemed minor in comparison with the possibility of variation in methionine content of the commercial chick starter, a third test was devised. The third test was conducted with one supply of the Kentucky chick starter ration. In the third test, Table 1, exposed chicks fed the basal ration had a mean weight gain of 285.8 gm. in the threeweek test period. The exposed chicks fed a ration with 0.9 percent added methio-
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Michigan State University on April 11, 2015
methionine ration, and the fact that they permitted more worms to develop, led to the expectation that worms grown in these chicks would be larger than worms grown in chicks fed the basal ration. The reverse was true. When individual chick weight gains, numbers of worms present at postmortem, and the individual lengths of worms recovered were submitted to separate analyses of variance, it was found that the only significant difference between the two groups of test
METHIONINE AND GROWTH OF PARASITIZED CHICKS
more and larger worms developed in the two groups of birds fed added methionine appears of certain parasitological importance, particularly in birds fed 0.9 percent methionine. These birds tolerated greater numbers of worms than did birds fed the basal ration, and, at the same time, achieved equal weight gains. From the nutritional side of the experiment, the data might well be interpreted to indicate that added methionine enables birds to attain superior growth rates up to a point where the amount of methionine needed for growth and maintenance is satisfied. An excess of methionine in the birds fed 1.8 percent methionine produced a distinctly unfavorable response, both in the non-parasitized and parasitized birds. The nonexposed controls gained an average of 66.0 gm. less than the controls fed the basal ration and 45.7 gm. less than the controls fed 0.9 percent methionine. The exposed birds fed 1.8 percent methionine gained 58.0 gm. less than the exposed birds fed the basal ration and 63.8 gm. less than exposed birds fed 0.9 percent methionine. The differences between amounts of weight gained by the three groups of control birds approached significance at the five percent level in an analysis of variance. Differences between the weight gains of the two groups of exposed birds fed the basal and 0.9 percent methionine ration versus the exposed birds fed 1.8 percent methionine exceeded the one percent level of significance. SUMMARY
A series of three tests have been conducted with methionine-supplemented diets for 2-10 week old New Hampshire chicks infected by the large intestinal roundworm, Ascaridia galli. The experiments were undertaken to determine whether chicks fed such diets
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Michigan State University on April 11, 2015
nine had a mean gain of 291.7 gm., while the exposed chicks fed a ration with 1.8 percent added methionine had a mean gain of 227.8 gm. On average, 6.3 worms were recovered from chicks fed the basal ration, 9.4 worms from chicks fed 0.9 percent added methionine, and 8.0 worms from chicks fed 1.8 percent added methionine. The smallest worms, on average, were recovered from chicks fed the basal ration; these worms had a mean length of 19.67 mm. Worms from chicks fed 0.9 percent methionine averaged 23.45 mm. long while the worms from chicks fed 1.8 percent methionine had a mean length of 23.69 mm. The weight gains of the nonexposed controls reflected the weight gains of the three groups of exposed birds. The controls fed the basal ration had a mean gain of 311.0 gm. Controls fed 0.9 percent added methionine had a mean gain of 290.9 gm. while those fed 1.8 percent added methionine had a mean gain of 245.2 gm. In chicks fed the basal ration only, and in the chicks fed 1.8 percent methionine, the controls outgained the exposed birds by 25.2 and 17.4 gm., respectively. Weight gains of birds fed 0.9 percent methionine were 290.9 gm. for the ten controls and 291.7 gm. for the forty exposed birds. If it is assumed that 0.9 percent methionine added to the basal ration provided an improved diet, then the parasitological findings are of interest. Exposed chicks fed 0.9 percent methionine gained 5.9 gm. more weight on average than exposed birds fed the basal ration only, yet were carrying more and larger worms at postmortem. In an analysis of variance the mean lengths of whole worms from the two groups of birds fed added methionine were significantly larger than birds fed the basal ration only. The F value obtained exceeded the one percent level of significance. The fact that
823
824
ASSOCIATION NOTES
nine were significantly inferior to those of exposed and nonexposed birds fed the basal ration or fed the 0.9 percent added methionine ration. REFERENCES Bolin, D. W., C. F. Peterson, C. E. Lampman and O. E. Stamberg, 1946. Chick growth response resulting from methionine additions to various protein supplements with pea protein. Poultry Sci. 25:157-161. Bolin, D. W., E. W. Klosterman, L. Butler, K. Schlamb and R. Bryant, 1951. Effect of delayed methionine supplementation in chick ration. Poultry Sci. 30:42-46. Peterson, C. F., C. E. Lampman, D. W. Bolin and O. E. Stamberg, 1944. Methionine deficiency of Alaska field peas for chick growth. Poultry Sci. 23: 287-293. Todd, A. C, and M. F. Hansen, 1951. On the economic import of host resistance to helminth infection. Am. J. Vet. Res. 12: 58-64.
Association Notes (Continued from page 814)
was published by the Cambridge University Press. In addition to the Poultry Science Association, Dr. Lerner is a member of the World's Poultry Science Association, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Genetics Society of America, the American Society of Zoologists, the Society of Development and Growth, the Biometrics Society, the Society for the Study of Evolution, the American Society of Animal Production and Sigma Xi. A.F.M.A: AWARD
The American Feed Manufacturers' Association award, instituted by the Nutrition Council, of one thousand dollars was presented to Dr. J. Russell Couch, Professor of Poultry Nutrition and Bio-
chemistry, Department of Poultry Husbandry, Texas Agricultural and Mechanical College System, College Station, Texas. The citation read, in part, as follows: "during 1949 and 1950 Dr. Couch and his collaborators published sixteen articles in various scientific journals describing their research in poultry nutrition including studies of biotin, insulin, lactose, folic acid, vitamin B12 and antibiotics. His studies have contributed substantially to knowledge of the effect of folic acid and vitamin B12 in the nutrition and biochemistry of chickens." The presentation of the award on behalf of the Nutrition Council of the can Feed Manufacturers' Association was made by W. C. Berger. Dr. Couch was born on a farm near Alvarado, Texas, in 1909, and graduated
(Continued on page 828)
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Michigan State University on April 11, 2015
could better withstand the effects of parasitism,* as evidenced by superior growth rates when compared with growth rates of infected chicks fed the basal ration only. No consistent evidence was found to support such a conclusion. In the final experiment of the series in which the methionine content of three test rations was in an apparent progressive series, more and larger worms developed in birds fed the 0.9 percent methionine-supplemented diet than developed in birds fed the basal ration only. Fewer but equally large worms developed in birds fed the 1.8 percent methioninesupplemented diet than did in birds fed 0.9 percent methionine. Growth rates of exposed and nonexposed birds fed 1.8 percent added methio-