Fructose Utilization in the Growing Chicken

Becker et al. (1954a) have shown that newborn pigs can neither hydrolyze sucrose nor can they utilize fructose. However, early in life piglets develop the capacity to utilize sucrose (Becker et al., 1954b) and, according to Kidder et al. (1963), at an age of 17 days they appear to have the ability to completely hydrolyze sucrose. Mitchell et al. (1937) observed a slight impairment in the digestibility of organic nutrients in a sucrose ration for rats, as compared with a ration containing glucose, and a slower rate of growth and of protein deposition on a fructose-containing ration. In the same species, Ruttloff and Ketz (1961) observed a decreased absorption rate for fructose as compared with glucose. In the chicken, the protein level has been shown to play a role in the comparative utilization of carbohydrates, sucrose diets promoting a growth rate equivalent to that obtained with dextrin diets on high-…