Riboflavin Requirements of Ducklings

RELATIVELY little work has been done on the nutritional requirements of ducklings. According to the government census of 1930 (Lee and Haynes, 1933), there are more than 11,000,000 ducklings raised annually in the United States. Therefore, investigations regarding the nutritional requirements of ducklings are of considerable commercial interest. This study was undertaken to determine the minimum level of riboflavin in the diet that would permit satisfactory growth. The term “riboflavin” is used in this report to designate the chemical compound, from whatever source, described by the formula; C17 H20 N4 O6. The term “lactoflavin” is used to designate the riboflavin obtained from milk. From an analytical chemical viewpoint all d-riboflavin, from whatever sources, is identical. However, there is always the possibility that semi-purified products prepared from a given source may carry along impurities peculiar to that source. These impurities may markedly influence the biological value of the material. For this reason the term . . .