Abstract
Summary
Betaine and methionine have been shown to be effective in preventing perosis and promoting growth in chicks when added to a simplified diet. They were ineffective when added to a purified diet of higher methionine content. In contrast, choline prevented perosis and promoted growth on both diets.
The results indicate that choline is required as such for the prevention of perosis and for growth and that betaine and methionine when added to the simplified diet enabled the chick to synthesize choline. This may be caused by an unidentified factor present in the simplified diet which is necessary for choline synthesis. Another possible explanation is that a factor which inhibits choline synthesis is present in the purified diet.
When the casein in the purified diet was replaced with an isolated fraction of the proteins of soybeans with resultant reduction in methionine content, betaine and methionine failed to prevent perosis but promoted some growth. The growth response obtained with betaine and methionine in this instance is believed to be due to a deficiency of methyl groups only. Choline was again effective for both purposes.
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