Abstract
In recent papers Almquist 1 2 emphasizes the precautions necessary in the care and housing of test animals in order to prevent bacterial K-vitamin synthesis in wet feeds and in droppings, and states that heated diets 3 are not growth-promoting. These reports prompt us to present additional data on this type of diets.
Experiments conducted during the past months have shown that ration K-11 (Table I) containing p-aminobenzoic acid 4 is more suitable than the ration K-7, previously described 3 as being deficient in the rat anti-gray-hair factor, because it permits better growth of the test animals and an earlier incidence of the hemorrhagic diathesis. It was observed also that vitamin K is apparently a growth factor, since chicks lose weight when the deficient symptoms occur and grow at a greater rate on ration K-11 supplemented with vitamin K than on ration K-11 alone.
The type of casein in ration K-11 is an important factor. The SMACO† Vitamin-free Casein proved to be an excellent source of protein in a vitamin K-deficient diet, but Labco‡ Vitamin-free Casein is apparently not entirely devoid of vitamin K, as the hemorrhagic diathesis does not develop in all the test animals reared on this diet in which this brand of casein is used as the basal protein. A similar observation has already been made in a comparative study of rations containing the Labco product and fish meal, respectively. 5
The ration K-11 can be used even when wet. One hundred day-old chicks were placed on a diet consisting of ration K-11 thoroughly mixed with an equal part of fresh ripe bananas. All the birds on this diet showed the typical K-deficiency symptoms within the same period of time as the control birds on ration K-11.
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