Relation of Diet to Hatchability of Eggs Produced in Batteries and in Open-Front Houses

THE literature on the relationship of diet to hatchability has been reviewed by Titus (1939), Cruickshank (1941), and Landauer (1941). That decreased hatchability of fertile eggs will result when the dietary levels of vitamins D or E, riboflavin, pantothenic acid, or manganese fall below certain levels has been amply demonstrated in numerous laboratories. Recently the work of Cravens et al. (1942, 1943) has added biotin and vitamin B6 to the list of dietary factors essential to the maintenance of hatchability, and unidentified hatchability factors distinct from those mentioned above have been reported in the alcohol precipitable fraction of yeast extract (Bauernfeind and Norris, 1939; Schumacher and Heuser, 1940) and in alfalfa meal (Hunt et al., 1939; Groschke and Bird, 1941; Cravens et al., 1942). There is ample evidence that interrelationships exist between the effects of diet on hatchability and the effects of other environmental factors. Thus Smith (1933) reported that . . .