Evidence of a Possible Requirement for Nickel by the Chick 1

Abstract

Summary

After 3 weeks on a dried skim milk-corn meal-based low-nickel diet (<0.08 ppm Ni), chicks which were maintained in an all-plastic controlled environment system had the following symptoms: (1) a change in leg pigmentation; (2) thickening of the long bones; (3) swelling of the hock joint; and (4) a significantly reduced length:width ratio of the tibia. All symptoms were prevented by the supplementation of 5 ppm nickel to the diet. Also, chicks fed the low-nickel diet accumulated a significantly greater amount of ⁶³Ni in the liver, spleen, aorta, and possibly bone during the 6 hr after oral dosage than did control birds. This evidence supports the hypothesis that nickel has a physiological role in the chick.