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AT the outset, I probably should establish my qualifications–such as they are–to speak on this subject. I joined the Poultry Science Association —and also the Yellow Dogs—in 1931, at the annual meeting held at the University of Kentucky, Lexington. Since that time, I have attended thirty-four annual meetings, including this one. I pause to reflect that I joined the Association long before some of you were born! Secondly, I should point out that I decided that the individuals, whom I would attempt to describe, must be dead. The living can still be seen and heard; and it did not seem fair to tell tales concerning some “old-timers” who are still alive—interesting, and informative as the tales might be, but unbelievable! For example, if one looked at the photograph of the “clean-cut” young man with his White Wyandotte pullets, taken in Kingston, Rhode Island in 1905, appearing . . .

MANY investigators have found that a high level of soybean oil meal in the diet tends to increase the growth response of chicks to vitamin B12 supplementation. It has been common practice, therefore, in chick assays for vitamin B12 to use a basal diet containing 60 to 70 percent of soybean oil meal. Such diets have been used by Stokstad et al. (1949), Lillie et al. (1948) and Peeler et al. (1951) as well as by others. Hartman et al. (1949) have shown that increasing the protein level in the diet of rats increases the response to vitamin B12. Such observations have led to the belief that vitamin B12, in at least one of its functions, is intimately concerned with the metabolism of protein. On the other hand, Chow and Barrows (1950), using rats as experimental animals, found evidence that vitamin B12 plays an important role in carbohydrate or fat . . .

IT HAS become evident that certain nutrients or ingredients, in the diets fed, influence the magnitude of the growth response obtained by the feeding of antibiotics. Groschke and Evans (1950) concluded that the performance of an APF supplement, which contained aureomycin, was influenced by fortification of the diet with B-complex vitamins. Scott and Glista (1950) reported that the addition of aureomycin to a corn-soybean oil meal diet, fortified with the known vitamins, only gave a slight response in the first few weeks with ad libitum feeding and none when feed intake was equated. Scott, Glista and Goffi (1951) concluded that the response from an antibiotic is dependent, in part, on the makeup of the ration. Biely and March (1951) did not obtain improvement in growth on adding aureomycin to a simplified diet containing all of the B vitamins. When riboflavin, nicotinic acid or folic acid was omitted from the diet, . . .

INABILITY to produce normal epithelial tissue is a characteristic symptom of vitamin A deficiency in a number of species including chicks. This could indicate a role for the vitamin in protein metabolism. Several workers have studied this problem, but the findings are contradictory. Baumann et al. (1942) observed that diets low in protein reduced the storage of vitamin A in the liver and increased the rate at which stored vitamin A was depleted. Moore et al. (1952) found that a liberal allowance of vitamin A enabled rats to resist, at least partially, the ill effects of a severe dietary protein deficiency. On the other hand, there is evidence that vitamin A utilization is better on low protein diets or is unaffected by the protein level. Dye et al. (1945) found that varying the protein level of the diet, from 9 to 36 percent, had little effect on the utilization of …

INTRODUCTION CONTRADICTORY evidence has been published concerning breed and/or strain differences in the utilization of, and requirements for vitamins and other nutrients. Lamoreux and Hutt (1939) reported that White Leghorn chicks survived longer on diets deficient in, or lacking vitamin B1 than did Rhode Island Red chicks. F1 progeny from a cross of White Leghorn males × Rhode Island Red females were intermediate between the parents with respect to a deficiency of the vitamin. Scrimshaw et al. (1945) found that the average thiamine content of the egg yolk of White Leghorns, Rhode Island Reds and Barred Plymouth Rocks, fed on the same ration, was 279, 167 and 175 mcgm. per 100 grams, respectively. They concluded that White Leghorns use the thiamine in the ration more efficiently. Mayfield et al. (1955) also found that White Leghorns deposited more thiamine in their eggs than did New Hampshires fed the same ration. Howes…

THOSE of my age and generation will recognize the source from which the title of this talk has been plagiarized, but for those of later decades, born when mothers held a bottle or diaper in one hand and a book on child psychology in the other, after the inception of Home and School or Parent and Teacher Associations, and following the development of educational toys and books for children, it might be pointed out that the title is a part of the elocutionary effort of Tweedeldee in “Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There.” Six of the lines read: ‘The time has come’, the Walrus said, ‘To talk of many things: Of shoes—and ships—and sealing wax— Of cabbages—and kings— And why the sea is boiling hot— And whether pigs have wings’ “The time has come to talk of many things” concerning Universities—teaching, research, philosophy, organization, …

ELY (1951) found that certain surfactants produced an increased growth response in chicks. He stated “surprisingly, many commercial preparations for home laundry and dishwashing use are among the active types.” Ely and Schott (1952a) further reported on a series of tests on commonly available commercial laundry products, both soaps and synthetic soaps. One product gave a positive growth response in four consecutive tests ranging from a low of 1.4 percent over the controls to a high of 8.0 percent, with an average increased gain of 5.4 percent. Of seven other products tested, one showed no effect on growth, two gave a minor growth improvement, and four were “rather active growth stimulators.” The average growth increase on the better products was about 7.0 percent at 12 weeks. They concluded that this “considerable variability in stimulating effect” might be due, in part, to the percentage and type of inorganic “builders” used in …

Glutamine was separated from glutamic acid by chromatographing deproteinized plasma on a 10-cm column of Dowex 1X8 and by eluting with acetate buffer, pH 4.2. The first portion of eluate, which contained the glutamine but no glutamic acid, was subjected to microbiological assay using Lactobacillus plantarum as a test organism. Recovery of glutamine added to plasma was satisfactory and the precision of the assays conducted was within 4%. Several substances were found to interfere with the microbiological assay but these were eliminated by the chromatographic procedure. The method was extended to the determination of glutamic acid by continued elution of the column with acetate buffer, pH 4.2, fractionation of the eluate, and determination with ninhydrin. Average glutamine and glutamic acid contents of plasma of normal non-fasting chickens were 12.8 and 3.4 mg per 100 ml respectively.

COATES et al. (1951, 1952) reported that chicks reared from day-old to 3 weeks of age in quarters not previously used for chick experiments failed to show a growth response to penicillin. Chicks raised in such quarters, regardless of the presence of antibiotic in the diet grew as well as chicks receiving antibiotic in long established quarters. These workers suggested that an infection was present in the latter birds, which, while not grossly evident, nevertheless was responding to penicillin, with a resultant improvement in the growth of the birds. Bird et al. (1952) found support for the observations of Coates et al. They showed that a response to aureomycin was evident after one week in long used quarters but not until three or four weeks in new quarters. Birds four weeks of age moved from the new quarters to the long used quarters and deprived of antibiotic, experienced a marked …

IT HAS been demonstrated that fishmeal is a good source of vitamin B12, and possibly one or more unidentified growth factors for the chick (Brant and Carver 1947, Carlson et al., 1949, Combs, et al., 1948, Heuser et al., 1946, Hill 1948, McGinnis and Carver 1947, Weise et al., 1948, Weise et al., 1949). It is possible, therefore, that in many practical diets for chicks the peculiar value of fishmeal may lie chiefly in its contribution of these factors rather than its contribution of indispensable amino acids. Relatively inexpensive sources of vitamin B12 are now available commercially in the form of concentrates prepared as fermentation by-products in the production of antibiotics. These concentrates have been suggested as a total or partial replacement for fishmeal and certain other protein supplements in poultry diets. Indeed several papers have already appeared describing investigations of this kind (Briggs et al., 1949, Lindstrom et al., 1949, Weise et . . .

COD liver oils, sold for feeding purposes, vary in color from lemon yellow to dark red, and, in a few instances, nearly black. The oils rendered by the direct steam process tend to be lighter in color than those rendered by the indirect steam method, whereas those made by the “sun rotting” process are dark red or black in color. However, there is a wide variation in the color of oils rendered by the direct steam process (Branion, 1928). The longer the interval between the time of removal of the livers from the fish and the time of extraction of the oil, the deeper is the pigmentation of the oil. As a general rule, but not always, the deeper the color of the oil the higher is its content of free fatty acid. It should be emphasized that there is, however, no apparent direct relationship between the color of an . . .

IT IS generally accepted that the small intestine is a major site for conversion of ingested carotene to vitamin A. Originally, a specific enzyme, carotenase, was assumed to be involved in the process. Recently, however, the hypothesis has been advanced that conversion may take place by β-oxidation of carotene to retinene, followed by reduction of retinene to vitamin A alcohol. With such an hypothesis, a special enzyme, carotenase, would not be required and only normal β-oxidation processes need be postulated. This hypothesis is supported by recent evidence that conversion of carotene to vitamin A can take place in several tissues in addition to the intestine. However, much of the work in this field is inconclusive and contradictory and further information on many aspects of the problem is required. REVIEW OF LITERATURE There is a large volume of literature dealing with problems of conversion of carotene to vitamin A and there …

EVERY organization needs, first of all, someone to conceive it; and second, someone to organize and develop it. The Poultry Science Association was blessed especially in the two men who, more than all others, were responsible for the proposing and developing of the Association—J. E. Rice of Cornell University, and W. R. Graham of the Ontario Agricultural College. In the fall of 1905, Professor Graham wrote a letter to all institutions in the United States and Canada that were engaged actively in poultry teaching or investigational work, as follows: “We would appreciate a letter from you stating whether you could be at New York Show this year or not. If possible, I would like to meet the various men in charge of the poultry divisions of the Experiment Stations. It has occurred to me that we might get a good deal of information from one another if we had . . .

THE Department of Poultry Husbandry at the Ontario Agricultural College, now the Faculty of Agriculture in the University of Guelph, was established in 1894, although the keeping of poultry flocks and instruction in breed characteristics and general management were reported by the Farm Department as early as 1877. They kept Light Brahmas, Dark Brahmas, Silver Speckled Hamburgs, Houdans, Plymouth Rocks, Grey Dorkings, Black Spanish, Partridge Cochins and Rouen ducks. Available records indicate that the Ontario Agricultural College had the first College poultry department in North America. Mills (1894) stated: “The most noteworthy step in advance which we have taken during the year, has been the establishment of a Poultry Department. We have erected new poultry buildings, with office, pens, yards, boiler-room, storerooms, and everything else necessary for the breeding and management of poultry, not on an expensive scale, but according to the most approved methods. We think we have everything …

GLUTAMINE forms a major fraction of the non-protein nitrogen in the blood plasma of humans and other mammals (Hamilton, 1945; Prescott and Waelsch, 1947; Bessman et al., 1948), and it has been suggested that blood glutamine functions as a non-toxic carrier of ammonia (Meister, 1956), and provides the major source of ammonia excreted in the urine (Van Slyke et al., 1943). Recently it has been reported that the blood plasma of the chicken also contains considerable glutamine (Olsen et al., 1962) and it seems likely that in the avian species glutamine plays a particularly important part in ammonia metabolism since it is a major contributor of nitrogen during the synthesis of uric acid (Buchanan and Hartman, 1959). The experiments to be described were designed to provide evidence that the chick uses glutamine as an ammonia carrier in the blood. To this end the response of plasma glutamine to the ingestion…

KLAIN et al. (1956) reported a severe achromatosis of the feathers of Barred Plymouth Rock cockerels fed lysine-deficient diets. Achromatosis of feathers has also been found to result from the consumption of folic-acid deficient diets (Briggs and Lillie, 1946; Frost et al., 1946). In addition, a similar symptom was observed by McConachie et al. (1935) in Barred Plymouth Rock chicks which had received diets containing both high and low levels of protein. An examination of the composition of the diets used by McConachie et al. in the light of present knowledge suggests that their low protein diet was deficient in lysine relative to other essential amino acids, and their high protein diet, although adequate in lysine, was deficient in folic acid. Photographs of affected birds, recorded in the paper of McConachie et al. show an abnormal feather pigmentation, similar, if not identical in appearance, to that observed by Klain et al.

THERE is considerable evidence that high soybean oil meal diets are, in general, satisfactory for poults (Headley (1944), Brant et al. (1944), Hammond et al. (1944), Fritz et al. (1947)). It is not clear from the results obtained by these workers what supplements, if any, may be required on high soybean oil meal diets for the most rapid growth. In a detailed study Bird et al. (1948) found that, for starting and growing turkeys, diets containing soybean oil meal as the major protein ingredient, are improved by the addition of fish meal and meat meal. Furthermore, 5 percent dried cow manure or 0.2 percent dl -methionine were fed as supplements during the early stages of growth and found to be effective. Scott et al. (1948) also found that the inclusion of fish meal in a high soybean diet greatly increased early growth rate. As far as the authors are aware, there . . .

IN A PREVIOUS paper by the authors (1937) the effect of feeding chickens a mineral deficient ration was demonstrated. It is the purpose of this experiment to demonstrate the inadvisability of attempting to fix the mineral content of the ration to obtain normal skeleton development. As our aim was to produce a normal skeleton it was presumed to be most essential that our observations be not confined to one group of birds, but to several groups. By such procedure an average picture of the normal skeletal growth would be secured, rather than a retarded or an accelerated growth, which might result from one mismanaged, or unhealthy group of birds. In view of possible differences between the skeletons of males and females of the same breed, or between the same sex of different breeds, it was considered necessary to make the following preliminary observations: (1) a radiological comparison of the males . . .

AS FAR as the authors are aware there are no published reports on the effect of heat on the amino acid composition of rapeseed protein. However, some damage or destruction of lysine when rapeseed is exposed to high temperatures might be expected in view of the loss of lysine which results from prolonged heating of soybean oil meal and sunflower seed oil meal (Riesen et al. 1947; Evans and Butts, 1948; Clandinin and Robblee, 1950; Alexander and Hill, 1952). Destruction of lysine by heat-induced reactions in the meal could explain why commercial rapeseed oil meal, which has been exposed to considerable heat during processing, requires a high level of lysine supplementation when used as a major protein source in chick rations (Kratzer et al. 1954; Klain et al., 1956). The experiments described herein were conducted to study the effect of moist and dry heating of rapeseed on the stability of . . .

BY REPLACING the calcium carbonate in Steenbock’s rachitogenic diet 2965 with beryllium carbonate or by adding small amounts of this substance to a normal diet, Branion, Guyatt, and Kay (1931), and Guyatt, Kay, and Branion (1933) were able to produce bone lesions, somewhat similar to rickets, in young rats. This beryllium rickets was not amenable to vitamin D therapy and was attributed by these workers and by Kay and Skill (1934) to the fact that beryllium has the capacity to precipitate phosphorus quantitatively from slightly acid solutions and that beryllium phosphate is exceedingly insoluble. Jacobson (1933) also produced beryllium rickets by the substitution of a chemically equivalent amount of beryllium carbonate for calcium carbonate in the Steenbock rachitogenic diet. Although Fabroni (1933) was unable to demonstrate any harmful effect by intravenous injection of beryllium hydroxide into rabbits, Sobel, Goldfarb, and Kramer (1935), by studying calcification in vitro, concluded that there . . .

GORDON (1952) reported that when antibiotics were fed to chicks the weight of the small intestine was significantly reduced. A similar observation was made by Coates et al. (1955) and by Pepper et al. (1953). Coates and coworkers noted that the length of the gut was little affected by the antibiotic, nor was its content of fat or moisture altered, and concluded that the antibiotic caused a thinning of the gut wall. They also reported, without presenting data, that histological preparations of the guts from antibiotic-fed and control birds showed no morphological differences. The investigations described herein are concerned with observations made on the dry weight of the intestinal tract and the thickness of the components of the gut wall, as affected by the feeding of antibiotics. 1. THE EFFECT OF ANTIBIOTICS ON THE DRY WEIGHT OF THE INTESTINAL TRACT Four experiments were conducted for which the general procedure was …

THE recommended nutrient allowances for chickens of the National Research Council (1950) advocate 1.0 percent calcium and 0.6 percent phosphorus in the ration of chicks to 8 weeks of age, with the proviso that inorganic phosphorus should constitute 0.4 percent. However, in the 1954 revision, although the total phosphorus requirement is set at the 0.6 percent level, it is recommended that at least 0.45 percent should be inorganic phosphorus, all of the phosphorus of non-plant feed ingredients being considered inorganic, together with approximately 30 percent of the phosphorus of plant products. Almquist (1954) concluded, from a review of all evidence on readily available phosphorus requirement for the chick to 4 weeks of age, that this requirement should be placed at a minimum of 0.45 percent in the presence of ample amounts of vitamin D. After this age, the requirement may drop to 0.37 percent to 10 weeks of age. O’Rourke …

A NUMBER of investigators have shown that the inclusion of an antibiotic or a combination of antibiotics, either in crude or pure form, in the ration of young chicks and/or turkey poults, results in improved growth—Almquist and Merritt (1951), Atkinson and Couch (1950, 1951, 1952), Bird et al. (1951), Branion and Hill (1951), Coates et al. (1951 a, b), Cuthbertson (1952), Davis and Briggs (1951), Dixon and Thayer (1951), Groschke (1950), Groschke and Evans (1950), Halbrook and Beeckler (1951), Harned et al. (1948), Heuser (1951), Heuser and Norris (1952), Heywang (1952), Kramke and Fritz (1951), Kratzer (1952), Lewis and Sanford (1952), Lillie and Bird (1952), MacGregor et al. (1952), Matterson et al. (1951, 1952 a), McGinnis (1950), McGinnis et al. (1950, 1951), Moore et al. (1946), Patrick (1951), Peppler et al. (1950), Reynolds et al. (1951), Robertson (1950), Rosenberg et al. (1952), Runnels et al. (1951), Sanford (1952), Sieburth et al . . .

Summary Injection of ducks with diphtheria toxoid resulted in the appearance of antitoxin in their blood serum. The amount of antitoxin present showed wide individual variations. The immunity was found to protect against injections of diphtheria toxin. The serum antitoxin decreased rapidly after injections were discontinued. The decrease coincided with the time when the birds began to lay eggs. The eggs were found to contain antitoxin in the livetin fraction of the egg yolk. The concentration of antitoxin in the yolk was found to vary with the concentration in the serum. The amounts of the proteins vitellin and livetin in unit volume of egg yolk were found to vary independently of each other, and independently of the individual which laid the eggs. No relation was found between yolk livetin concentration and yolk antitoxin concentration. Ducklings newly hatched from eggs laid by immunized birds were found to contain antitoxin in their blood serum. None could be found in the serum of three weeks' old ducklings from the same mothers.

A lysine-deficient basal diet, both with and without supplemental lysine added, was fed to groups of Barred Plymouth Rock cockerels from hatching to 4 weeks of age. At this time blood samples were taken from the carotid artery and pooled for each group. Twelve amino acids were determined in the deproteinized plasma by microbiological assay. Deproteinized plasma from birds receiving the lysine-deficient diet was lower in lysine content and higher in threonine and tyrosine than that from birds fed the lysine-supplemented diet. Other amino acids showed much smaller differences. A similar amino acid pattern was observed when the birds were fed the lysine-supplemented diet for 25 days from hatching and then the lysine-deficient diet for 3 days before blood samples were taken. Withholding feed for 24 hours before the samples were taken resulted in a marked increase in lysine and threonine concentration, an effect which has been reported by other workers. Acid hydrolysis of the deproteinized plasma increased somewhat the concentration of lysine, as measured microbiologically, but had no effect on, or somewhat reduced, the concentrations of other amino acids.

THERE is probably no protein supplement used in nutritional investigations to such an extent as casein. It is recognized that uniformity and absence of all vitamins or other nutritive factors, except protein, is fundamentally important. A great deal of research has been devoted to the development of methods for rendering casein free from all such extraneous factors but the nutritive value of commercial caseins appears to be variable and, even after purification, the results are not always certain. Ringrose, Norris, and Heuser (1931), studying pellagra in chicks, found that purifying casein by extraction with 0.2 percent acetic acid reduced the growth-promoting properties of commercial casein. These workers observed a difference in this respect between American and Argentine caseins. The chicks on all diets developed pellagra and paralysis and the addition of autoclaved yeast resulted in satisfactory growth, showing that the vitamin B2 (G) complex was involved. Lepkovsky and Jukes (1935) reported . . .

NEWBERNE et al. (1956) reported that chicks, fed on purified diets, showed gross distension of the proventriculi and adjacent areas. In the affected birds the area between the proventriculus and the gizzard was dilated and the masculature thinner than normal. O’Dell et al. (1959) also reported that a large proportion of chicks, fed a purified diet, developed an enlarged proventriculus, with failure in growth and development of the gizzard. Although the gizzards were smaller in the affected birds, the masculature appeared normal, but the lining of the gizzards was thicker than normal. The affected birds also had enlarged proventriculi. Corn meal, corn grits or ground wheat prevented this enlargement, but sand or grit did not. The authors did not record their influence upon the gizzard. Creger et al. (1961) fed White Leghorn female chicks raised to maturity and for a 20-week laying period on (1) a purified diet, (2) this…

MANY reports have been published on the size, weight, composition, and growth of the skeleton of the fowl. The literature dealing with skeletal measurements has been summarized by Maw (1935), that dealing with the influence of vitamins and minerals by Cruickshank (1935) and Branion (1938). Slaughter tests and chemical analyses of different breeds of poultry at various ages have been carried out by Mitchell, Card, and Hamilton (1926, 1931), and Halnan (1936). None of these studies gives the worker a visual picture of a normal skeleton in a fowl of any given age. It was our desire to establish, if possible, by the use of the X-ray, a working standard for normal skeletal growth from hatching to six weeks of age. The advantage of an X-ray picture is that it shows the approximate degree of calcification, the extent of calcification, and the shape and growth of the skeleton without the . . .

THE relative value of individual proteins and the protein level in chick rations, as well as the value of various protein supplements in promoting egg production and hatchability has been investigated by many workers. So far as growth is concerned, most workers agree that the optimum protein content of the usual type of chick ration lies between 18 and 20 percent. However, since young ducklings grow more rapidly than chicks and presumably require protein to build this rapidly increasing body weight, it seems highly improbable that their requirement is the same as that of chicks. There is little or no definite information in regard to the feed requirements of ducklings during their growth period. Several poultry departments have published rations which they recommend for duck feeding but most of them are based on rations which have been fed, with fair success, by commercial duck farms. These rations have been formulated . . .

MANY descriptions have been published of avian rickets, but most of the results have been based entirely on birds kept under laboratory conditions and fed “synthetic” rations. The existing methods of determining the presence of rickets in the fowl are by histological examination and bone ash determination. Neither of these methods gives a complete picture of the extent of the calcification that has taken place in the skeleton. It is our desire to demonstrate, by the use of the X-ray, the presence of rickets in a flock of birds kept under ordinary farm conditions. It is hoped, therefore, that the results of the experiment to be described will serve a two-fold purpose: (1) to give the laboratory worker a more accurate and complete picture of rickets than that obtained either by microscopic examination or by bone ash determination, and (2) to impress on the poultry breeder that rickets is not . . .

THE quantitative requirement of ducklings for vitamin D was first reported by Fritz, Archer and Barker (1940, 1941). These workers, using White Pekins fed on both a practical ration and the A.O.A.C. basal diet for the assaying of vitamin D carriers with chicks, concluded that the requirement was approximately the same as that of chicks and that 30 A.O.A.C. units of vitamin D per 100 grams of ration resulted in optimum calcification as judged by per cent bone ash. The levels of vitamin D used ranged from 0 to 120 units per 100 grams of ration. Motzok, Graham, Branion and Slinger (1946), also using White Pekin ducklings fed on the A.O.A.C. basal diet, concluded that the requirement was in excess of 30 units per 100 grams of ration as judged by bone ash and plasma phosphatase values. However, the highest level of vitamin D fed by these latter workers was . . .

THE published results of experiments designed to investigate the effect of the inclusion of an antibiotic in the ration of laying birds upon egg production are contradictory. Halbrook and Beeckler (1951) reported that the addition of a vitamin B12-antibiotic supplement, containing 1.8 mg. of vitamin B12 and 1.8 gm. of aureomycin per pound, to the rations of White Leghorn and New Hampshire chickens, or Bronze turkeys gave no consistent improvement in egg production. Carver et al. (1951) found that the feeding of either aureomycin or terramycin, at a level of 10 p.p.m. in either an all plant protein ration or a ration containing fish meal, to duplicate groups of 40 Leghorn pullets each, had no effect upon egg production. Similarly, with duplicate groups of 59 Leghorn pullets each, terramycin added to a soybean oil meal—fish meal diet at levels of 4, 8 and 12 p.p.m. had no effect. Lillie …

AT THE third annual meeting of the International Association of Instructors and Investigators in Poultry Husbandry held at Iowa State College, Ames, on July 30, August 1 and 2, 1910, it is recorded that, at a meeting called to order at 9 a.m . on Saturday, July 30, by the President, Dr. Raymond Pearl, “the Association further instructed the President to appoint a second committee, of which he should be chairman, to report upon the advisability of publishing the proceedings of the annual meeting and a poultry bibliography. The President selected the following committee: Raymond Pearl, James E. Rice and W. R. Graham.” These three instructors and investigators must assume responsibility for initiating the publication of the scientific journal, now known as Poultry Science—the official journal of the Poultry Science Association. For, at a later session during that meeting, the committee on publications made the following report which was adopted: . . .

PUBLISHED reports on the nutritive value of rapeseed oil meal for livestock and poultry have been reviewed by Bell (1955). According to the evidence cited in this review it appears that rapeseed oil meal, when incorporated into poultry rations at levels of 10% or higher, is goitrogenic and detrimental to growth. Bell also reviewed work of Kratzer et al. (1954) which showed that a ration containing a high level of rapeseed oil meal produced better growth when supplemented with lysine but not when supplemented with iodinated casein, although the latter supplement decreased the weight of the thyroid. Also mentioned was a report by Blakely and Anderson (1948) that poults fed rations containing rapeseed oil meal exhibited some evidence of inadequate lysine intake as judged by slight depigmentation of wing feathers, and showed a thyroid enlargement which was reduced by feeding iodinated casein. In a later publication, Renner, Clandinin and Robblee …

DAM et al. (1952) found that chicks fed diets low in vitamin E and sulphur amino acids developed a muscular degeneration manifesting itself as white striations of the breast muscle. Supplementation of the basal diet with 0.5% cystine or 0.01% d-alpha tocopheryl acetate provided good protection against the disorder. In contrast to the influence of high fat levels on the development of other vitamin E deficiency symptoms in chicks, the production of muscular dystrophy was shown to be unaffected by dietary fat intake. Machlin and Shalkop (1956) confirmed the protective activity of cystine and vitamin E and demonstrated the effectiveness of methionine and high levels of diphenyl-p-phenylenediamine. Recently Calvert, Nesheim and Scott (1960) made the interesting observation that the muscle lesions did not occur when the basal ration was deficient in arginine. Chicks fed a vitamin E-free ration containing 20% casein (in place of a combination of 15% casein and …

IN a preliminary report from this laboratory on the nutrition of the chick, Graham, Pettit, Sykes and Howell (1934), suggested that the unknown food factors absent from our control ration were multiple. The later work on this problem has been divided roughly into purification of the already successful diet and simplification of the unknown complexes such as yeast and wheat germ, by extraction of the active principles. Hogan and Boucher (1933) have recently succeeded in growing birds on a purified diet, using various substances in solution to supplement their control ration. Keenan, Kline, Elvehjem, Hart and Halpin (1933) have shown not only that chicks may be grown on a simplified diet, but suggests that vitamin B4 is a potent factor for their growth. In both of these important contributions, liver has been fed as one of the main supplements. It appears that this tissue is more potent in the factors . . .

Urea has been found unsatisfactory as a source of protein in chick diets (Ackerson et al., 1940; Bice and Dean, 1942). However, the possibility suggests itself that an increased utilization of urea might occur when antibiotics are included in the diet. Reported herein are three experiments designed to test this hypothesis. In experiment 1 each diet was fed to a group of 10 male and 10 female chicks composed of equal numbers of Columbian Rock and Columbian Rock × New Hampshire chicks. In experiment 2, 20 male Columbian Rock chicks were used per group and in experiment 3, 9 male and 9 female Columbian Rock chicks. All chicks were one day old when placed on experiment. Basal diets used are given in Table 1 and the experimental data are given in Table 2. For experiment 1 urea was added at low levels to avoid possible toxic effects. On a nitrogen . . .

In a previous publication (Gray et al., 1957) we reported that autoclaving ground Argentine variety rapeseed at 15 lbs. pressure for 2 hours considerably improved the nutritive value of the ground seed for chicks. The favourable result from autoclaving was even more evident when lysine was added to the diets to replace that destroyed during the heat treatment. Described below are experiments in which the effect of autoclaving the ground seed for periods less than 2 hours was investigated. The method of autoclaving the raw ground seed and of selecting the chicks at 2 weeks of age for assignment to the experimental diets was as previously described (Gray et al., 1957). The basal diet, to which the rapeseed was added, was also the same, with the exception that it included a supplement of l -lysine at a level of 0.4% of the final diets. This additional lysine prevented a dietary deficiency . . .

Chicks fed purified rations low in tocopherol and the sulphur amino acids develop muscular dystrophy in the breast musculature which can be prevented by supplementing the basal diet with methionine, cysteine, cystine, or alpha tocopherol acetate (Machlin and Shalkop, 1956; Jenkins et al., 1962). The mechanism(s) by which the sulphur amino acids and vitamin E prevent muscular degeneration are not known. Our knowledge that methionine is irreversibly converted to cysteine and cystine in the tissues of the bird suggests that the biopotency of methionine may be correlated to its ability to form these amino acids. The experiment reported here was a preliminary investigation of the relation of sulphur amino acid structure to the protection provided against the development of muscular dystrophy in the chick. Day-old, White Plymouth Rock pullets were fed a tocopherol and cystine-deficient basal ration containing 20% casein and 1% l -arginine HC1 (Jenkins et al., 1962) for one …