The Tolerance of Growing Chicks for Soybean Oil in Their Ration

THE quantity of fat which chickens can utilize or tolerate in the ration is relatively unknown. Lippincott and Card (1939) have expressed the situation as follows: “The fat toleration of birds, in common with herbivora is not very high.” It is well known that soybeans are rich in oil. The increased use of this crop in soil conservation programs, poultry feeding, and the recommendations of game conservationists that soybeans are a desirable crop for certain wildfowl suggests that this is an especially desirable grain for use in establishing basic facts regarding the tolerance of poultry for fat in their ration. REVIEW OF LITERATURE One of the first indications of the possible detrimental effect of excessive fat in the rations of chicks is found in a report by Vermeulen (1932). She observed that the gall bladders of chicks which were fed 6 percent of fat were enlarged. Cruickshank (1934) noted a . . .