The Effect of Calorie Source in a Chick Diet on Growth, Feed Utilization, and Body Composition J. T. BALDINI AND HANS R. ROSENBERG Stine Laboratory, E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Co., Inc., Newark, Delaware (Received for publication October 25, 1956)
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EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE
Two four-week experiments are reported in which three and six replicate groups of 16 battery reared New Hampshire male chicks were used in each treatment. Feed and water were available to the chicks ad libitum in an air-conditioned room. The diets used are shown in Table 1. RESULTS
Diets one, two and three were used in Experiment 1. As seen in Table I, diets two and three have the same caloric value, each approximately 100 Calories more than Diet one, but in Diet two the extra calories come from carbohydrate and in Diet three from fat. The caloric value of the cerelose is calculated at 1,030 Calories per pound and that of fat 2,900 Calories
per pound. Other productive energy values were taken from Fraps. The growth, feed efficiency and feed consumption data from Experiment 1 are shown in Table 2. It is evident that the extra energy supported better growth and feed efficiency and that carbohydrate and fat were equally effective. It is concluded that fat was acting only as a source of energy and had no unique value itself in supporting better growth and feed conversion. In Experiment 2, Diets four and five, shown in Table 1, were used. Diet five was derived from Diet four by replacing 10% of the corn with 6% of cellulose and 4% of fat to keep the productive energy value of both diets at 878 Calories per pound of diet. The two diets differed in fat content with Diet four containing 2.84% fat and Diet five containing 6.44% fat. Diet four also contained 0.8% more protein than Diet five due to the replacement of corn in Diet five but this was considered insignificant. The growth, feed conversion and feed consumption data from Experiment 2 are shown in Table 3. Here again it is evident that fat had no effect on growth or feed conversion when added in such a manner as not to increase the caloric value of the ration. In both experiments the feed consumption data indicate that there was no tendency for the chicks to overeat when fat was added to the diet. In this experiment the effect of fat in the diet on the body composition of the chick was also studied. This was done to determine whether or not fat in itself had
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HE addition of fat to broiler diets has resulted in various observations from different laboratories. Siedler and Schweigert (1953), Runnels (1955), Sunde (1954) and Biely and March (1954) have reported that fat favorably influences feed conversion and growth of chicks. Rosenberg et al. (1955) gave an account of the manner in which fat increased the amino acid requirement of the chick, and Combs (1955) reported on the part fat plays in body composition of chicks and tendency of chicks to "overeat." The question naturally arises as to whether these beneficial effects are due entirely to the energy content of fat or to some other intrinsic value of fat per se. The experiments presented in this paper were designed to shed light on this question.
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EFFECT OF CALORIE SOURCE TABLE 1.—Composition of experimental diets Ingredient
Total % Protein %Fat Productive Energy Calories/Pound
Diet 2
Diet 3
Diet 4
Diet 5
49.275% 25.000
49.275% 25.000
49.275% 25.000
56.025%
46.025%
—
—
3.000 3.000 2.000 2.000
—.
3.000 3.000 2.000 2.000
—
1.000
— —
10.000
35.000
— —
• — •
—
3.000
3.000
—
—
—
1.500
1.500
1.000 6.400
—
—
35.000
—
3.000 3.000 2.000 2.000
1.000 10.000
—
.—
— — — —
—
6.000
—
1.250 1.750 0.500 0.025 0.050 0.150 1.000
1.250 1.750 0.500 0.025 0.050 0.150 1.000
3.600 1.250 1.750 0.500 0.025 0.050 0.150 1.000
1.250 1.750 0.250 0.025 0.050 0.150 1.000
4.000 1.250 1.750 0.250 0.025 0.050 0.150 1.000
100.000%
100.000%
100.000%
100.000%
100.000%
—
21 2.76 829
21 6.36
21 2.76
22.8 2.84
932
932
878
22 6.44 878
* Each gram of vitamin and antibiotic premix contains in milligrams: oi-Tocopherol acetate Vitamin B ! 2 Biotin Ca pantothenate Folic acid Inositol Menadione
0.5 0.0011 0.02 2.20 0.2 100.0 0.08
Niacin PABA Procaine penicillin G Pyridoxine Riboflavin Thiamine
3.5 10.0 0.22 0.7 0.7 0.4
TABLE 2.—Growth and feed conversion of chicks in experiment 1 at four weeks
Treatment Diet 1—829 Calories, 2.76% Fat Diet 2—932 Calories, 2.76% Fat Diet 3—932 Calories, 6.36% Fat :
Gain 1 (gms.) 342 390 388
Feed 1 Gain
Feed consumed per bird (gms.)
2.13 1.95 1.92
729 760 745
Each number represents an average of six replicate groups.
TABLE 3.—Growth and feed conversion of chicks in experiment 2 at four weeks
Treatment
Gain1 (gms.)
Diet 4—878 Calories, 2.84% Fat Diet 5—878 Calories, 6.44% Fat
345 341
Each number represents the average of three replicate groups.
Feed 1 Gain
Feed consumed per bird (gms.)
2.13 2.15
735 733
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Yellow corn meal Soybean oil meal (dehulled) Soybean oil meal (solvent) Ground wheat Peanut meal Alfalfa meal Fish meal Dried fish solubles Liver meal Cellulose Glucose Fat (Prime beef tallow) Calcite flour Dicalcium phosphate Iodized salt MnS0 4 Dry D 3 (1,500 ICU/gm.) Choline chloride Vitamin and Antibiotic Premix*
Diet 1
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J. T. BALDINI AND H. R. ROSENBERG TABLE 4.—Body composition of birds in experiment 2 at 4 weeks1
Treatment Diet 4—2.84% Fat, 878 Calories Diet S—6.44% Fat, 878 Calories 1
moisture
% protein (NX6.25)
72.07 71.25
17.61 17.72
Fat (ether extract)
Ash
Other
6.131 !;.,:•' 3.08 6.90'' 2.99
1.11 1.14
All values average of 9 birds.
It appears from these data that the presence of fat in the diet had no effect on body composition when the fat was added in such a manner that the caloric value of the diet was not changed. The small difference in fat content of the carcasses was treated statistically and was found not to be significant by the t-test. DISCUSSION
The data presented above suggest rather clearly that in diets which contain enough fat to meet the chick's requirement for essential fatty acids, additional fat is only a source of calories. It appears that fat under these conditions has no effect on growth, feed consumption or conversion, or on body composition that cannot be accounted for by its caloric content. In the experiments presented here diets were used with a maximum fat
content of approximately 6.5%. The difference in fat content between diets of the same caloric value was about 4%. It was necessary to adhere to such a small difference because it was considered desirable to use practical type diets. In this type of diet it is difficult to compound two diets which are of equal caloric value but differ in fat content by more than 4%. However, there is no apparent reason why the results should not be the same if diets differing more widely in fat content had been used. CONCLUSIONS
1. The nutritional effect of adding fat to a chick diet containing a sufficient amount of essential fatty acids was found to be due entirely to the caloric value of the fat. 2. Within the limits of these experiments it appears that chick performance is identical when 100 Calories are added to an 800 Calorie ration either as fat or as carbohydrate. 3. Increasing the fat content of a broiler diet without increasing caloric content was observed to have no effect on growth, feed efficiency, feed consumption, or body composition. REFERENCES Biely, J., and B. March, 1954. Fat studies in poultry. 2. Fat supplements in chick and poult rations. Poultry Sci. 33: 1220-1227. Combs, G. F., 1955. New approach to formulation of poultry rations based on research. Proc. Univ. Md. 1955 Nutr. Conf. for Feed Manuft. p. 9-14. Rosenberg, H. R., J. T. Baldini, M. L. Sunde, H. R. Bird and T. D. Runnels, 1955. The concomitant
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any influence on the amount of adipose tissue in the body of the chick. When the experiment was completed at the end of four weeks, three birds were selected at random from each of the three replicates on each of the two treatments. These birds were killed without loss of blood and were frozen until they could be processed. Each whole frozen bird was ground, including feathers, in a commercial meat grinder until a rather fine mass was obtained. The material was then dried in an oven to constant weight in order to determine moisture content. The dried material was then finely ground in a pulverizer. Samples were taken for protein (NX6.25), fat (ether extract) and ash analysis. The results are shown in Table 4.
EFFECT OF CALORIE SOURCE use of fat and methionine in broiler diets. Poultry Sci. 34: 1308-1313. Runnels, T. D., 19S5. Animal fat in combination with various other ingredients in broiler rations. Poultry Sci. 34: 140-144. Siedler, A. J., and B. S. Schweigert, 1953. Effect of
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feeding graded levels of fat with and without choline and antibiotic +B12 supplements to chicks. Poultry Sci. 32: 449-454. Sunde, M. L., 1954. The use of animal fats in poultry feeds. J. Amer. Oil Chem. Soc. 31: 4 9 52.
Effect of Mammalian Gonadotrophins (PMS and FSH) on the Growth Response of the Oviduct of White Leghorn Chicks* Poultry Department, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, N. J. (Received for publication October 26, 1956)
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ONFLICTING evidence has been published on the growth of the oviduct following gonadotrophin administration to prepuberal chicks. Stimulated oviducal growth, if it occurs, implies an active source of estrogen. The specific tissue elaborating estrogen in the bird has not been established (Taber, 1948). In line with mammalian data, the ovarian cortex, if not the maturing follicle itself, might be the source. However, the ovarian hypertrophy following gonadotrophic treatment appears to be confined to proliferation of medullary tissue, with little, if any, follicular development (Domm and Van Dyke, 1933; Asmundson et al., 1935, 1937; Domm, 1937; Uotila, 1939; Nalbandov and Card, 1946; Taber, 1948; and Das and Nalbandov, 1955). Thus, further information on the oviducal and ovarian response of immature chicks to gonadotrophins might provide clues relative to the unsettled question of the source of estrogen. PROCEDURE
Pregnant mare serum (Gonadogen) was administered to' female White Leghorn * Journal Series paper, New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station, Rutgers University, the State University of New Jersey, Poultry Department, New Brunswick.
chicks, 5J-weeks old, also to 7-week-old males. Dosage of pregnant mare serum was 5.0 Cartland-Nelson units (approximately 100 I.U.) injected subcutaneously every other day for 10 days. A second group of female chicks 37 days old, were injected intramuscularly with 3.0 Armour units of FSH in 0.3 ml. saline daily for 10 days. All birds were sacrificed at the end of the 10 days in order to obtain gonad, oviduct and comb weights. Histological sections were made of the ovaries of the FSH-injected birds and the controls to determine the amount of follicular stimulation. Tissues were sectioned at 4/x and then mounted. The slides were then stained in hematoxylin and eosin. The data were treated by the analysis of variance. RESULTS
In those chicks injected with PMS the male exhibited a 3-fold increase in testes and comb weight (Table 1). Thus, the gonadotrophins stimulated the gonads, and they in turn produced androgen which caused the comb growth. In the female, the ovaries were increased in weight about 2 times that of the controls and the comb weight increased almost 4-fold. Oviduct weights increased from 86 mg. for the controls to 2,855 mg. for the PMS injected, an increase of 33 times.
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ROBERT K. RINGER, P. D. STURKIE AND H. S. WEISS